It says, the voice commanded John to write, to put down in black and white, to make this event an indelible part of history; to write so that none will ever forget what God has to say from heaven. “Write this.”the voice from heaven said. “Blessed are the dead, the ones who have died in the Lord…”
“Blessed are the dead,” says the voice and then quickly explains. The ones who have died in the Lord. For it seems pretty clear that there are many who are not blessed in death just as there are many who are not blessed in this life. There are many for whom this life is a dry rocky shore and there is no hope for the life to come. There is no hope for a voice from heaven.
It is a sad tragic day when people die apart from the Lord. It is a sad and tragic day when people live apart from the Lord. And yet believe it or not there were many such days in the life of Patsy Sloan Manning. She was born on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi delta in 1933. Although the soil in the delta is rich the people there are not always, and life can be difficult. Patsy mother died when she was nine years old and her father quickly remarried, perhaps too quickly. The woman he remarried didn’t care much for the two precious little girls left behind in the passing of Hazel Weisner Sloan. The difficult relationship with her stepmom, combined with the emotional distance of her father left Patsy on a dry rocky shore of deep bitterness and resentment. Her own marriage to Douglas Bowden Manning instead of helping only compounded the problem of her bitterness as she spent much of her life and energy nursing him through several major health issues. By the way I’m not just saying this. I’m actually just parroting Patsy’s own description of her life before discovering the blessedness of being in the Lord.
Why are those who die in the Lord blessed? “Because says the Spirit from that time on they rest from their labors and their works follow after them.”
Just a little note of explanation about these two words "labor" and "works". There is a difference between the two. "Labor" speaks of the trouble, the pain, the agony, the toil and "works" speaks of the finished product, the joy, the satisfaction, the completion.
Let me illustrate it this way. If you've never dined at Patsy's table you've missed out on one of the truly great experiences of glorious southern hospitality. As her hairdresser described Patsy, a classy southern lady with a little tobasco, that was what eating at her table was like. Sumptuous southern fare spiced up with rousing conversation. She wasn’t afraid to talk about anything and if you didn’t bring up the subject she would, her contagious laughter echoing like bells down the halls of her home.
So let me explain these two words from Patsy’s hospitality. There is a deceptive amount of hard labor that goes into the perfect pecan pie. It takes a great deal of effort to create something that goes down so effortlessly. There is a long tedious process that goes into the perfectly tender, precisely crispy piece of Southern fried chicken. But the long hard labor is worth it for the end. Because Patsy knew the end of her labor meant joy, laughter, and delight in good food and good company. She knew the magic of making a home. She had the gift to take the common things of life and turn them into the uncommon. She somehow, in the midst of bitterness of resentment found joy. Where? Well it says it right here. In the Lord.
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