A Rainbow is Formed
Maya Angelou wrote a beautiful quote “Be the rainbow in someone else’s cloud”. It is a quote I reflect on often. I have been wondering how this small but powerful saying relates to my profession as a Funeral Director?
More often than not, our first connection with families as Funeral Professionals, is when their loved one, the one they hold dear to their heart has died. With most families, it is not a cloud they experience – One would better describe it as being in the midst of the tumultuous storm. The storm of grief where the elements of love and loss collide. Death is never kind or gentle to those who are left behind. No matter how mentally well prepared they have been for death, they are heart broken. And, in the very moment when they most need a quiet place of solitude, there is a funeral service to be organised.
The person organising the funeral must pick up the phone and contact their chosen funeral director. This is where the role of the funeral care provider comes in to assist and ensure a befitting service is organised that will adequately reflect their loved one. In a way, Funeral Directors are light bearers. We facilitate small rays of light through the storm of grief and death. As light bearers we are subtle and that is how we like it. Good Funeral providers work well, quietly in the background. We are there whenever needed, making sure that all funeral arrangements and the day of the funeral run smoothly and to plan.
When families come to us they do not know where to start. We sit down with them to draw out the character qualities and the memories of their loved one to create a funeral service that will highlight and well reflect the person who has died. We work together with the family to ensure, beliefs, family traditions and the essence of who this person was in life are honoured.
As we journey alongside this family through the funeral process, we shine those small rays of light and pinpoint the moments that will make this service meaningful to this grieving family. Pinpoints that shine right through even the darkest of storms. It is our desire as Funeral Providers that those pinpoints of light will penetrate the clouds of tears, sadness and loss so right in the midst of grief a deeper beauty of comfort is created.
In the midst of this storm known a grief where the elements of love and loss collide, the light bearers come out to shine light on the love, on the life, on the legacy, on the heritage, on the essence of who this person was and will forever be in the hearts of those who loved them. A funeral is created- a ceremony to remember, to reflect, to show gratitude, honour and respect. Right in the middle of the collision between love and loss the rainbow is formed.
Author Esther Swanborough ©2015
The Funeral Director – A Rainbow is Formed