Prayers - written by daughter Jess

Prayers of thanks

Thank you for this woman
For her warm embrace, her smiling face.
She has scented our lives with a welcome fragrance
She has been treasured and precious.
Words will sketch our thanks only as a pencil drawing,
and our silences and memories will add colour and shape.

We thank you differently, as we knew her differently

Our Mother
Sister
Grandmother
Wife
Aunt
Cousin

Our neighbour
friend
adopted mum
carer

Our listener
consoler
nurturer
fellow of the war-time generation
patient.

She was woven into our lives, she shaped us with her presence
She shaped fruitful days with the clay of her life
Thank you for the nourishment she brought to life
Thank you for her joy in the smallest details
Clasped hands in sheer delight, her “Brilliant darling!”
Her brimming with pride


Thank you for her cherishing of human life,
her nurturing of fragile lives,
her quirky humour,
her wry smile,
her laughter
- THAT COOKING!

Thank you for her appetite, her Granny soup,
her savouring of the palette of life
Thank you God of Life for her enthusiasm
For living every minute of every hour
Her generosity, hospitality, sheer warmth and vibrant energy
She was your gift to us and we had to give her back with reluctant goodbyes and tortured tearful embraces
Thank you for the gift of her life which we were so privileged to share.

We thank you and pray for those who, for whatever reason, can only be here in spirit.
Those who have died, especially June’s son-in-law Trevor,
those who are ill,
those who have to work,
those who are many miles away,
especially June’s sisters Barbara in Sweden and Jenny in Aberdeen.

Prayers of mourning
We all had to let go
We urged her not to look back
We waded into the water, pushing her boat towards the light.
Unclasped her hands from ours and ours from hers
Wept our goodbyes, played her out, sang for her release, begged for an ending
Our prayers are answered, and she is at peace.
God of healing fade those scarring images of her traumatic ending
Force their savage cruel shapes into the shade of happier memories of wholeness and beauty
Unite us in our love for her
Hold us until the hurt is no longer heard so loudly and a new melody sings to us of her freedom.

Prayers of readiness
This was a brave woman, defiant and courageous.
She was never afraid of your light, or of your love because she knew it so well already
Her life was shot through with the shining of your eternal love
Yours will be a familiar face, we have seen it in her own.
God of her life
Please take her home.