"...I Swear It's Not Too Late"

“To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!”  (Pete Seeger/The Byrds)

I was reminded of these lyrics at the funeral of a friend, Flossie. She died “too soon”, following shortly after cancer took over her body.  I was waiting in the greeting line and heard her husband, John, say to the guest ahead of me, referring to his wife’s death in her mid-60’s, “It’s not the way it’s supposed to be, but it is.” King Solomon couldn’t have said it better, I thought.  As I moved up the line and took his hand I felt this overwhelming mix of emotions, grief for him; “how could I stand here if this was my situation”; and a half-dozen other thoughts.  I asked him about the funeral brochure for his wife, which contained Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and the final line of the Byrds’ version of Seeger’s song. “Flossie wanted this printed”, he explained.  That was Flossie, still preaching to anyone who would listen.

I got to know Flossie from my days in politics. She was the one volunteer every candidate wanted, a dedicated, untiring activist.  She was a special part of our lives, giving vision and life to our campaigns.  And, while our lives are long past our political days, we both remembered so gratefully all Flossie did and her indomitable spirit. My wife helped me to identify one additional reason why I was so emotional about Flossie’s death. We had known she was sick for several months, but we never did make room in our lives to go say “thank you” one last time. “There will be time to do that ‘next week.’” And now it was “too late.”  We committed to each other, “never again.” We are not going to wait until it is “too late”  to tell people we love them, to thank them, to be with them.

  But maybe it’s not too late. Maybe Someone will get Flossie the message. Maybe Flossie’s final sermon was, in some unintended way, for me that day: “You can still make peace…it’s not too late.” So, here goes: “Thanks for everything, Flossie!  You are a special person to us, and we will keep reminding people of what you lived your life to teach:  ‘A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.’”

Peace and Shalom,

Bill