The Way Home

Steve Reinhard tells a heartwarming story about a little girl who walked home from school every day. The quickest way home for her was through the town's cemetery. It was her favorite time of day. She

loved to feel the breeze in her hair and to watch the birds. Sometimes she just threw herself on the soft, green grass and watched clouds turn into castles and angels and great white stallions. As she skipped

around grave stones, she whistled her favorite tune or sang a song. Other times, she liked to kneel down and read the names and dates on gravestones, and to glide her fingers across the engraved lettering.

She particularly enjoyed those walks through the graveyard.

Still, her friends asked, "Why do you walk through the cemetery after school?"

That's easy, she would always reply. "Because it's the way home."

In an ultimate sense, that is true, isn't it? The way home is always through the cemetery. And it does not have to be a fearful passage at all, this way that leads home. It is a trip we can actually look  forward to with joy.

Which is good to know, especially when we're holding the hand of one who is about to make the voyage. Or when we are ready to go ourselves.

 Steve Goodier