Cemeteries as Gardens

Nate Wilson's Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl needs to be re-read on a monthly basis.  It provides such a fresh, new perspective on the world and our part in it.  You can find more of my thoughts on the book here.

I was reminded of this recently while in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.  It's early spring and the first blooms are opening and spreading their colors over the city.  It may sound morbid, but one of the most pleasant things to do in spring whilst in the Derby City is to take a drive through Cave Hill Cemetery.






 The landscape of the cemetery is beautiful and many monuments are so intricate and lovely you may feel you've walked into a museum's sculpture court. I love to read the inscriptions on older monuments. (And you may recognize a few names.)

  

As we walked around, I noticed family sections.  Stone after stone carved with the same surname with burial dates spanning decades.  I was reminded of this passage from Wilson's book:

Spring - look to the sun.  I'm eating my lunch in a graveyard.  Human seeds have been planted in neat little rows.  Stone stakes label the crop.

What a wonderful truth that is.  What a comfort for Christians:

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as those who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
~ I Thessalonians 4:13-14