I has the privilege of spending Friday with my sweet friend Amy remembering her beautiful baby boy Levi Craig. Friday would have been Levi's one year birthday, but instead of a birthday party, a group of friends held a remembrance ceremony at the graveside. His little headstone had just come in a few weeks prior. The inscription is so sweet...
An angel in the book of life wrote down my baby's birth and whispered as she closed the book, "Too beautiful for Earth."
A friend of ours is a pastor and wrote some remembrance liturgy. As we listened to her speak, and repeated the verses that were ours, we learned that in the most beautiful of gardens, there is an occasional rose that buds, but never opens. What happens in nature's garden happens once in a while also in the garden of God's human family. Life is created, a heart beats inside the womb, a baby kicks, beautiful, precious, but fails to come to its rightful unfolding. Levi Craig, like the bud that never fully opens, was gathered back into God's heavenly garden of souls.
We all wrote a letter to Levi and tied them to yellow balloons which we let float away, up into the sky. It was incredibly heart-wrenching and emotional, but beautiful at the same time.
We all got together and had a bracelet made for Amy that has a picture of Aiden, her three year old and Levi. Like any mother's charm bracelet, we wanted her to have a piece that represented both of her beautiful boys.
After the ceremony, we went to lunch at Amy favorite restaurant. Several of us went to get pedicures after that. Amy continued to have friends and loved ones surround her throughout the evening and night.
Over the past year, Amy has amazed me with her raw openness and strength. I am honored to be her friend and blessed to have shared this day with her.
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