I had not taken the trip for some time and felt that it was that right time again. It was a beautiful day for January. Sunshine and temperatures in the mid to upper sixties. It seemed like the right time to make the trip from my home in Georgetown, Kentucky to my ancestral burial grounds near London, Ohio. My mother and father are buried there along with my father's parents and a brother-in-law.
It's kind of interesting to me just how the burial site reflects the family. My grandparents, Ora and Leota Kelly (no, that's not a misprint, that's the way Pawpaw spelled his last name) bought a family plot. Actually, the plots were purchased by my grandmother's parents, W. A. and Emma Swiss. They bought grave sites for themselves and my grandparents and each of their children.
My Uncle Mike was the first family member to go. I was very young when he died back in the fifties. His real name was Oren Stevens. For some reason everyone called him Mike. He was married to my Aunt Phyllis. She asked Granny and Pawpaw if Uncle Mike could be buried in the family plot. His grave site, and what was supposed to be Aunt Phyllis's grave plot, are to the right of my grandparents. Aunt Phyllis is buried elsewhere.
As the family grew and married the family plot began to look a little like it might not be of much use as my Uncle Orlin and Aunt Helen, my father's brother and his wife, settled into Millersport, Ohio and purchased their own burial plots there. My grandparents reminded my parents that there was still one burial plot left. That is where my parents' ashes reside today. They have that last burial site right next to the access road in the cemetary under the tree on a curve. Funny how that all seemed important years ago as a prime burial site.
I try to go to my parents' grave two or three times a year. It is a trip of about two and one half hours one way. Each time it reminds me of something important. Some day that grave will be useless. It is only a repository for the part of my parents that is not yet fitted for eternity. Their souls are with God. But the assurance is that their grave will serve no purpose when the Lord Jesus returns.
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first." 1 Thessalonians 4:16 I keep hoping that maybe on one of those trips to my parents' grave Jesus does return. It would be awesome to see the power of God manifested in its greatest display; salvation being rewarded to those who died in Christ.