Now You be a Good Boy!

"Now you be a good boy Joey!" Those were the final words I heard my Mamaw say the Saturday before she left this earth to be with the Father Monday, October 15th. Looking back on my life and my interactions with Mamaw over the past week, this phrase keeps playing back in my head. Reason being is that those were the words she always said to me since I met her over 20 years ago every time we would part ways from visiting each other. Our goodbyes always ended with I love you and now you be a good boy. Even now at 29, she couldn't resist telling me to be a good boy, especially since I am living in New York. It was a serendipitous goodbye. No better way for her to tell me goodbye, than for telling me that phrase.
Well, I can honestly say, that I have lived those words to the best of my ability and continue to do so. I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, that is why trying to live out Mamaw's phrase is so difficult for me from time to time.
The funeral on Wednesday evening was one of celebration. It was so comforting to know that when her pastor asked her how things were between her and the Lord and she said things are good, it brought joy to my heart knowing that I would see her again when the Lord calls me up to be with Him. The next day at the internment, I witnessed something I never witnessed before at a funeral. The pastor read from Psalm 55:6 which says "And I say, 'Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest...'" Then my step-brother, Chris, goes to a small white box and is given a white dove to hold on to representing the spirit of Mamaw. While Chris was holding the dove, three other doves were set free from the box and flew away. The three doves represented the trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Chris then let go of the dove he was holding. Now here is where the most amazing thing happened.
The three doves flew in one direction and the lone dove, Mamaw's "spirit," went in another direction. The doves right before flying off into the distance all reunited and flew away together. You may be asking what is so amazing about that.
Well, to me it was a perfect representation of the relationship Christ wants to have with us. The birds flying in different directions represented that we are so separated from the love of God, yet the Lord calls us to be Him through Christ, and if we listen and obey and offer our lives to Him, we will be united with Him. Seeing the four fly away together was just that; the Lord calling Mamaw to be with Him. What a visualisation of the Love God has for us. I hope that I've explained it well enough for you to understand what I saw.
I will miss my grandmother tremendously. She was full of life. I can only hope to live a life half as full as hers. I don't think that I will ever hear those words again, but I know they will forever be ingrained in my heart. I can only hope to make her proud by trying to be the best "Good boy" I can be.