The Cemetery Couple

It’s a habit of mine to take daily walks in the cemetery across the street from my home. Sometimes I use my time to pray or seek God. Other times, I utilize the cemetery as a place to make a phone call or a video chat, uninterrupted by my children. I also listen to songs or sermons on my phone, depending on the mood I am in.

All these purposes are fine, but they tend to be self-centered, if I am being honest.

Yesterday was entirely different. God used a moment of divine mourning and sacrificial love to bring me closer to Him. 

I was walking in the cemetery at a brisk pace, an appointment I needed to bring my daughter to pressing on my mind. Trying to cram in some exercise before moving on to the next thing on the to-do list. 

Then I saw her. An elderly woman struggling to get off her knees from the grave she was visiting. She wore a band around her back indicative of an injury or need for support. I instinctively moved closer to her, thinking I could offer to lift her to a standing position. Then I realized she wasn’t alone. Her elderly husband was there. A similar support band around his back. He was trying in vain to lift her by placing his hands under her elbow and pulling. This push-pull dance went on for a short while. I kept moving closer to them, thinking I could help. Neither knew I was near them; they were so intertwined in one another.

Then the husband did something that simply pierced my heart by how self-sacrificing it was. He dropped to his knees in front of his bride. He then put his hands on the ground. On all fours, he became a table for his wife to use as leverage to raise herself. She put her hands on his back and pushed herself into a standing position by the strength of his love. Before the husband raised himself to a standing position, which I could see was difficult for him as well – he lowered his face to the ground and tenderly kissed the grave that they had come to visit. 

Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”    Christ literally died for his bride. 

The man in the cemetery had obviously practiced dying to himself, his selfishness, for his bride.  He offered himself as her footstool. He lacked physical strength, but the strength of his love still brought her upright. 

Their mourning together was the holiest and oddly the most romantic thing I have seen in a long time.

Jesus said in his sermon on the mount, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

I thought they needed my help. It turned out, God knew I needed theirs.