The soft cool breeze of the morning brushed against my cheek as
I walked up the steep hill that overlooked the small but neatly kept
cemetery of my small village. There laid many from the 18th
century through the 20th century.

I sat down atop this hill and surveyed the beauty that became a
panoramic view of homes, churches and of course the beautiful
Allegheny mountain.



As I contemplated all that I saw, I became aware of those who
gave their lives for freedom, those that went to be with the Lord
in early childhood and many that had been blessed with long lives.

I saw the deep serenity of this area more then felt it. The trees
swayed ever so gently and one could catch a drifting of pine scent
as the wind would change directions.



In the distance I could hear an occasional dog barking, cars going
on their way, folks greeting one another cheerfully and I knew our
little town was awakening for the adventures of the day.

As I looked around, I noticed the leaves were subtly changing their
leafy greens for Autumn's hues and the hot days of summer were fast
closing. I watched butterflies flitting from the many wildflowers
growing along the path and the deep buzzing of the cicada or locust
as we young folks called them.



It seemed like a Hodge podge of sounds were coming at me in
every direction and I found myself folding my knees under me in a
fetal like position as I lay on the ground & looked heavenward to the
deep blue sky. I had found such contentment in this place as I was
treated to the sounds of the living creations that were all around
me and awareness of those precious souls that had been so much
apart of someone's lives.

I felt like I had entered a hallowed place somehow and yet I did
not personally know the Lord as my Savior .I know many folks
think of a cemetery only as a place of last life, but God showed
me the beauty in the contrast of those that had gone on and the
life that was there to live.



The little village that I had grown up in since I was five years old
had not changed much and as a seventeen year old girl I longed to
broaden my horizons and stretch my wings . I dreamed of marriage,
children and I had high hopes of seeing other states, perhaps other
countries. I really liked my little town with all of it's quaint little
way of things, but even as I sat on that steep hill, I knew someday
I would leave that slow, peaceful area and probably never return.

I often think of that time as my awakening to adult life. I did indeed
marry a young man who lived down the street from my home and we
were blessed by two Daughters. I have moved from the beautiful
north east to the lovely south east, I have never left the good ole
USA, but I have never forgotten that Autumn morning and the
peacefulness of it lingers in my mind to this day.

Ann Marie Fisher
©September 14, 2007

2 Corinthians 5: 7~9

For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident,
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord.
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of him.