life goes on

Not even a sparrow can fall without the Father’s knowledge. But every time a sparrow falls, the world just keeps spinning. James Taylor pondered after his brother’s death, “the sun shines on this funeral, the same as on a birth, the way it shines of everything that happens here on earth.”
I arrived here after dark, and the funeral hasn’t taken place yet, but I’m guessing that tomorrow afternoon, the sun will be shining, same as it was today, same as yesterday. Tonight the sky is brilliant. It is barely chilly out there and great night to drive around out in the country under all the twinkling. I even saw a long, lingering shooting star with a fizzling tail. I wondered why when the world seems to stop, why doesn’t it stop? Why so much normalcy? Why so much beauty in sadness? Do we need creation to moan with us? The crescent moon set bright and beautiful as I came up the interstate tonight, Venus on her shoulder. Orion was rising, Pleiades above the top of his bow, as I broke away from the family hours later to drive under the sky.
All was well. But all was not well. World spins. Life goes on. Yes, that’s it. Life goes on. Not just for those of us left behind to mourn and comfort. Life goes on - much more beautiful night than this, no doubt. Life goes on.