Redemption of Denial
Quick, grab this moment
Before it fades away
Don’t let yourself forget
How you felt that day.
The restless tug at your heart
The way your chest went tight
At those words, “He’s gone.”
No, this isn’t right.
Here today, gone today
No wonder that denial
Is how we all respond to death
For the first little while.
Call it shock or disbelief
Or astonishment you might
But they are all expressions
That something is not right.
As time goes on, we move along
From denying to accepting.
This is good, and we should
But there’s something worth remembering.
Yes, let a trace of your shock
Linger in the light
Of your journeys forward
That something is not right.
Something is not right about
Life that ends in death
‘Creation was not always cursed’
You hear in whispered breath.
The whispers become clearer
As you open up God’s Word
And yet returns your shock
As you read what next occurred.
Your sin-cursed world and agony
Were not lost on your Creator
Promises were made and kept
And fulfilled in an unlikely Saviour.
God himself! He came to us
To finally reconcile
That feeling that each death evokes
That feeling of denial.
In the greatest of all ironies
His perfect life at its height
Jesus laid his down for us
Could this be right?
But carry on towards his tomb
It’s the one that’s filled with light
He rose again! Conquered death!
Ah, this is what feels right.
And now dead hearts hear his voice
And they too are made alive
Their bodies only laid in graves
For the blinking of an eye.
So, again, I ask you
To keep denial’s trace in sight
So long as it reminds you
That one day all will be right
By Lydia Mangwathe