Ashes to Ashes

We hear it said often....well at least once a year, but what does it mean to me? I did it, I confronted the fact today that my mom's remains are now ashes....she wanted to be cremated for as long as I can remember. I can remember being young and knowing that her wishes were to be cremated when her time came. Well since it came 4 weeks ago my mother, although I'm sure her spirit and soul are now in Heaven is now ashes in a beautiful urn that my dad, brother, and I picked out. So, what does this mean, Adam was created from dust and Eve from Adam so in reality we are all created from dust. I can't even wrap my mind around what this means, God, our God is so awesome and mighty that He breathed His Spirit...the Holy Spirit on the Earth and into the dust and created Adam. Why, He is all knowing and all being, He knew that we would hurt Him and that He'd have to send His only Son to save us and that only by His Son's death and Resurrection could He be truly joined with us again. How painful it must have been to bring all this into play, He knew the end, but He must also have know that through the misery and pain there would be joy and hope. Maybe that is why, He knew joy and He knew hope and wanted to share these with someone who'd feel them too. For what is love if it is not joy and hope. He loved us so much from the beginning that He began this for us to teach us so that when we finally make our way to Him we will be prepared to worship Him with all the joy and hope He has shared with us over our years. I knew my mom was dying, we all are really, we are born to be made ready to spend eternity in Heaven so in truth we are born to die. He knew when He created my mother that she would join Him someday and He filled her life with joy and with hope. What a gift she received from Him who gives the greatest of gifts and now that she is with the Saints and Angels worshiping Him in Heaven she knows love, His love in its truest form. My mom's body is ashes, it has once again become what it was....in the beginning. Her wishes were to have her ashes spread in the ocean and if you're Catholic like me you stop and say uh oh, how do I do this with what the Church feels about cremation. Well, I'll tell you, you pray for peace and you seek guidance from your Priest-someone you trust and have faith in.....now he is only human, but it is that human aspect of Father Tony that helped me today to find peace with my mom's request. She will become one with earth again, with what she was created from. Adam's body was made from dust, his soul and spirit were given to him through God the Father breathing His Holy Spirit into him. My mom was no different, whether her body is now in a casket underground, or ashes in an urn, she has returned to Him. The part of her that He created with His love has returned to Him.
Jeremiah 29:11
Melanie