The last six weeks had been a trying time in my life. I had spent the time at the hospital with my Mom 800 miles away in Missouri. The sitting, the waiting, the sometimes up all night, had taken their toll and I had come home to West Virginia, to rest and be with my husband and children for a few days before going back. It's difficult to be away when you feel so strongly that you should be somewhere else but Mom had been moved to a hospital closer to my brother and he would be in and out during the day to check on her.
I had just gotten home from the grocery store, restocking shelves for the family since as I was trying to prepare to leave again. After putting things away, I decided to take a break, sit out on the deck in the late afternoon shade, and have a bowl of ice cream. I was sitting there relaxing, with my feet propped up on the deck railing, deep in thought, when I heard a noise behind me. I began to realize that I had been hearing this noise over and over for several minutes but in my reverie, I had not been paying attention. I turned around in my chair to look and I watched in amazement as a dove flew from one side of the yard to the other.
As she flew, she sang her dove song, urgently making the sound as she traveled several feet across the whole yard from one tree to the other. It was almost as if she were calling out to me and saying, “Look at me, I’m beautiful and I can fly!” I watched her fly once more and then just as mysteriously as she came, she was gone.
I was contemplating where that dove had come from, since I had not seen any doves around my house before, when I heard my husband calling me to the phone. I came in the house and picked up the phone. It was my brother. “Mom’s gone”, he said quietly.
In my heart I think I already knew. You see, Mom loved the Lord with all of her heart. This wouldn’t be the first time that God had sent a message on the wings of a dove and this time it was to reassure a daughter. He was letting me know that Mom was not really gone but she was now with Him.
I believe He was saying to me, “Yes, she’s beautiful and she can fly!”
By Pamela R. Blaine
http://blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm
Copyright, August 24, 2000