The End Of Spring

This year Easter the sun shone bright–a welcome harbinger of Spring after a long Winter. A Clear sky and the many hues of the budding season belied the chill in the air—common in these mountains. Nancy spent that morning in church—her husband, Dan, preaching—the Easter breakfast—the fellowship with the small congregation.

That afternoon she and Dan drove two miles from their home to their daughter’s house to enjoy a splendid holiday meal featuring spiral cut ham, roast beef, and a variety of yummy vegetables. On the way up the long driveway son-in-law Michael and Elisia, one of the kids working on the family’s four wheeled ATV.

Later as the family settled around the dinner table, the cheerful banter reminded Nancy of the many family gatherings in this home. Anna, the oldest at 18 quipped about her younger siblings. Samuel, 16, said something, now forgotten, in response that made everyone laugh. Elisia, 13, smiled sweetly and displaced the simple graces so rare at her age. Joshua, 9, the baby of the family, did his usual childish antics that reminded everyone this was a home where each of the children enjoyed that nurture that released them to grow into what God intends them to be.

Before the family time concluded Nancy confirmed arrangements for the following day. Laura, her daughter, would be driving Anna back to Word of Life Bible Institute in the Adirondacks two hours north. They planned on shopping in Albany on the way and meeting up with Michael. The younger kids would stay at the house, but could Nancy come, get Joshua take him home for the afternoon?

 

The next morning, Dan did the weekly shopping in the town of Catskill some thirty minutes away. When he returned, he complained of an afib attack, so Nancy told him to rest, put the food in the pantry, and walked the dog. Although this delayed her she figured she’d still be able to pick up Joshua—just a minor change in plans.

As she drove up the long drive to her daughter’s house, she saw something indistinct in the adjacent field, but dismissed it so intent as she was on her task. Reaching the doorway, she called inside. Samuel answered, “I think Joshua and Elisia are in the field on the four-wheeler.”

Nancy turned and looked down the driveway. She listened but heard no sound of an ATV, but maybe an indistinct voice drifted on the slight breeze. She returned to the car and began a slow retreat the way she had come. Halfway down the hill she spotted the object she had dismissed earlier—the four-wheeler on its side. She sprang from her seat and now the voice was distinct—Joshua’s desperate cry for help.

Nancy hurried closer. Her body shook as she took in the scene. Joshua’s leg, trapped under Elisia, who in turn was pinned by the overturned ATV, held him captive. Nancy searched for help—no one in sight. Samuel was up the hill in the house—too far to hear her–no cell service.

She rushed to her entrapped grandchildren and pushed at the four-wheeler. It would not budge. Joshua appeared okay except for his leg. She turned to Elisia. Unconscious. “Wake up, baby.” She gently brushed her granddaughter’s muddied cheek. No response.

Nancy loathed leaving the children, but she needed help. She assured her grandson, “I’ll be right back.”

A car passed on the road. She headed there. Maybe another would come, and she could flag it down. Over the field across the road an eagle soared. She hardly noticed.  She ran to a farmhouse–knocked on the door. Dogs barked—nothing else. She hurried back to the kids. Somehow—somewhere her phone showed life. She called for help.

When assistance arrived, the first on the scene was Laura and Michael’s pastor, chief of the volunteer fire company. With his help the two of them freed Joshua. Nancy clutched the wide-eyed boy to herself. Soon after, paramedics came and attended to Elisia and Nancy shielded the boy from their efforts. She shuddered in unbelief as she heard the outgoing radio call from the crew and the words, “We have a code black.”

 

Laura, Michael, and Anna were waiting as Nancy and Joshua arrived at the emergency room at Albany Med. She called Dan who was making his way to the hospital.

“It looks like Joshua will be alright.”

“What about Elisia? Any news?

Hesitation.

Then she sobbed. “She’s gone. Our sweet ballerina is gone.”

 

That evening it snowed—six inches of wet, heavy snow.

 

The following day friends and family drifted in to Laura and Michael’s to convey condolences. The sounds of video games came from different parts of the house where Joshua, Samuel, and friends distracted themselves. Anna sat on a settee reading. Laura and Michael each found no lack of ears to hear their grief. Someone looked out the window and noticed the still falling snow. “Where did Spring go?” they asked.

Dan mumbled under his breath, “It died in the field.”

Spring had come to end.

 

 

But, I was wrong.  Yes, on April 18, 2022, our granddaughter, Elisia Jane, our sweet ballerina went to be with her Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. I could tell you more about her and how I know she had a personal relationship with Him, but time and space fail me.

But this is not all to the story. Spring seems to have escaped us for the moment, but it will return. The eagle which Nancy remembered later reminds us that God was there all the time and gathered His child on eagle’s wings, and we have this promise:

1Corinthians 15:51-57 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”55“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

The day is coming when Spring breaks eternal for God’s people–those who trust in Him, when Elisia will be shed of her broken body and those of us who remain will follow her and meet with our loving Savior in the air to be with Him forevermore. Amen.

                                                       

 

(Untouched photograph  showing    sunbeam shining on our Elisia)

 

     God sent a ray of sunshine into our lives one day

It stayed with us for 13 years and now has gone away.

There’s a part of us in Heaven with our Lord forevermore

And  Heaven seems much nearer than it ever did before.