Final Farewell

It was a great honor to be asked to present the eulogy at my grandfather’s funeral. For quite some time I contemplated what to write – looking for just the right thing to say. I have often sat at funerals where every minute indiscretion of the deceased’s life is hung out like dirty laundry for all to see. At other times I have listened as the speaker describes a life of perfection without any hint of transgression.

I did not want this for my grandfather as he was neither. His life was more like a favorite novel, read and reread until the pages are frayed and faded at the favorite parts. It was a story full of conflict, resolution, intrigue, anticipation, romance, deception, love, forgiveness, and redemption. And like a good novel, when it was over, we all closed the last page and thought, “Ah, yes -- that was a good story!” Early in the morning, in that space between slumber and wakefulness, the words came to me. They came so clearly that I could see them written on the page, but even more, I could feel them. And when I read them, I knew this was how I must begin his final tribute.

The Refiner’s Touch
By N. Villarreal

I watched from afar the struggling man
Walk a pathway at times unclear.
Through uphill fight
And valleys deep
I saw the Master near.

With sometimes fire and sometimes ice
I thought the man’s soul might break,
But the Refiner’s touch
Though harsh at times,
He never did forsake.

And the man never stopped
Although he did stray
At times along the path.
His forward steps kept a steady pace
To the end he came at last.

And as he looked up
I saw in his eye
A weariness with words untold,
But where once was hard and unrefined
I saw the smoothest gold.

“... I know at times he wondered if his life had made a difference, and he worried about some of the choices made along the way. But his life did make a difference, and the legacy he leaves behind is one of the greatest gifts he could ever give. I will surely miss him, but I find great comfort in the knowledge that life is eternal, and the bonds of family stretch far beyond the confines of this mortal existence.”