Throw my ashes in a river…

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I know you long to keep me, but I’m no longer here. Throw my ashes in a river and watch them disappear.

In your heart only may I stay, until all memory fades and no one is left who knows.

The River Time flows on; and we all must go.

But I wait for you on the other side. Love never fails.

After all my pondering of the “final expenses situation”, as began in previous article, here were the main issues I was trying to solve. 1.) How to keep my final expenses as inexpensive as possible. 2.) Find a place that will always be there. 3.) Send a final message true to what my life has been. I suddenly realized it had to be a river! The only question left was what river? And where on the river?

A river makes the statement I want to make. I’m here, but I’m also not. You got to let go, and have peace about it. A force has carried me away, but that same force can reunite us some day. It’s actually a beautiful force, like this beautiful river I spent so much time at when I was here. And this place is full of life, full of people living and enjoying their health and the great outdoors! It’s not a grave yard full of dead men’s bones! It’s green and blue and flowing and alive! This is the resting place I choose!

Oddly enough, with my nick-name of Grandpa White Feather, the name of this river is White River. Can you believe it? It flows through the heart of Indianapolis where I have lived most of my married life. It’s a beautiful place where people gather to get a breath of fresh air on a busy day. They walk, run, bike, have a picnic, read a book, and simply relax! I myself have done all of the above there many times. We even use to watch the downtown fireworks from there. It has several beautiful spots and flows to many places I have enjoyed. One branch of it even flows from a spot close to my house and where we baptized several teenagers many years ago. Special, special, special! This river is definitely a part of me, and my wife. This is where we have lived our lives together.

Throw my ashes in the river and watch them disappear. It’s important for loved ones to know you are gone. In their heart only you may still live. This is an important statement to make. A river, or thrown from a high place into the wind. It is a true picture. I’ve always been a seeker of truth and reality. Imagination is great and I love it, but it must also be balanced with what is true and real.

So as I searched the area the other day, on foot, with a close friend, I knew this place was perfect. I want a person or two, to take the ashes of my wife and I, (assuming she agrees with this. We have always talked of having our ashes released together. Whoever goes first is kept in the urn until the other also passes.) But our ashes need to be poured from the center of the bridge in above picture. There is a very nice sitting area for the family to gather and watch, and from there the river flows to all the spots I have mentioned. It will carry our ashes to those places, even as we slowly settle to the river bottom and become a part of that place forever. If the kids, or anyone, ever wants to come to a quiet and peaceful place to remember me? This is what I choose for them. Here’s some pictures.

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The last picture actually looks back where the bridge is that the ashes would be poured from. From there it flows past the sitting area on the left side of river, and onto the area with the man-made water falls, and much more. I don’t have pictures of the many trees, much shade, and setting areas. Also the downtown canal, the zoo, so many wonderful things. I am very pleased with this place, and it will cost us nothing.

All of us have a tendency to let society, peer pressure, advertising, whatever’s “in”; we tend to let a herd mentality program us, so we don’t think outside that box. Advertisers spend big money hoping to get you thinking inside their little box. Professional salesmen persuade us to become the slave of their little box. Funeral homes hope you will not want a cheap way of passing on. It’s only cheap in terms of money. It’s actual total effect I believe is very high value and sends a much greater message. Thank God cremation is an option, or what would poor people do?

When I sit under the Willow Tree, I like to think “big picture”, not small. Most people have tunnel vision. They see a tree and ignore the forest. Wisdom always sees big picture. Wisdom is visionary. Wisdom takes time to slow down, sit under the willow tree, and look long. How far can you see? What is coming? What is truly important? Is it a single tree, or the forest? Satan loves to get us fixated on a single tree, just as he did Adam and Eve. Eve was fixated on the tree, and I believe Adam was fixated on Eve. Some things never change. LOL.

I’m afraid the modern church system has done the same thing, become full of “programs”. And guess who the “programmed” are? You and I. Unless we look at what Jesus actually did, what the early church actually did, and what our New Covenant in Christ actually says. Then we begin to see outside our modern church ways.

Hope you take some time to ponder these things. I hope you find your own willow tree to enjoy and hear the wisdom. Until the next time, godliness with contentment is still great gain! Be a visionary. Look long.

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