Love always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres. It surprised me to learn how hard Helen had worked throughout her life. Not a stay-at-home mom, she had worked to help support her family, whether helping in the school cafeteria or as a playground attendant or her job at Pearson's Candy (the kids didn't mind the benefits of that job). Butterflies fool you – they seem so light, so frail – but no creature on earth has worked any harder just to be born. The beauty of those wings and the treasure they are to us have come at a price.

Love never fails. What Paul meant was that love is consistent. Love never falls short of being what it is and doing what it does – patience, kindness, trust and hope. All else fails – piety falls short, promises are broken, education takes us just so far, mountains wear away, seas run dry – but love never fails. Love keeps on giving, keeps on offering kindness, keeps on speaking truth to the beloved.

God is love. Today Helen Lehse has been drawn fully into that love. While she was among us, she practiced it well. That spirit was known, seen wherever her shadow touched the floor. Her daughters will tell you there was never a day that they didn't know they were loved – not by hugs and kisses (they too pass away) – but by the kindness, patience, trust and perseverance their mother showed them.

Helen loved butterflies. Next time you see a graceful fluttering outside your window or among flowers of your garden, think not of Helen (she would not want so to be remembered) but of love – think of the tender shadow your life casts upon others. "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me," Stevenson wrote in his poetry for children. We cannot know all those upon whom our shadow may fall, but whoever – and wherever – that may be, may it be the same kind of patience, kindness, trust and hope that we saw in the shadow of a butterfly that was Helen Lehse. Amen.

Devotional From Harold’s Memorial Service

On My Best Day

A meditation delivered at the memorial service for Harold J. Lehse
Brookdale Covenant Church, Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
August 10, 2007
by The Reverend Dr. Michael A. Halleen

In your heart, set apart Christ as Lord.
(1 Peter 3:15 –NIV)

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