It All Turns

We found out last week that my father-in-law has cancer. It has spread, and the doctors made it clear that there would be no cure, just treatment to prolong life and ease his pain.

I cried all night the first night we found out. It surprised me how hard it hit me.

Today we had a baby shower for my sister. Her baby is due in April.

So life right now is a strange mix of joy and sorrow, hope and fear.

The lines from the song "It All Turns" by Billy Crockett keep running through my head:

It all turns, doesn't it
The world goes 'round today
The tide hangs like a trailer on the moon

It all turns, doesn't it
The grass beneath the snow
One day will be growing green and new

And when you have to say good-bye
I wonder if it isn't wise to know
That in some holy sense
The circle brings it round again

It all turns, doesn't it
A tooth becomes a space
That whistles when you face into the wind

It all turns, doesn't it
On graduation day
One world fades away
And one begins

So when you have to let it go
Somewhere in your heart
And know there is a river deep and true
That runs beneath all time and you

Cause it all turns, doesn't it turn
Never hold on to where you've been
It all turns, doesn't it turn
Daylight to darkness and then
Daylight back again

It all turns, doesn't it
The wrinkle of the skin
The graying of a thinner lock of hair

It all turns, doesn't it
And in the tiny bed
The newborn lays her head
And dreams a prayer

And when it's time to let it go
Somewhere in your heart
You know there is a river deep and true
That runs beneath all time and you

It all turns
A pendulum of grace
Moving hands across the face
Of all these days

It turns
And every then and now
We will raise the cup
And bow the heart in praise