It is very likely that the name Jemima Layzell won’t mean very much to many of us, but to eight people Jemima is probably the most important person in their lives.
Jemima was just thirteen years old when she died, unexpectedly and suddenly.
Through the organ donation scheme, Jemima saved the lives of eight people – the largest number of people helped by a single donor.
It’s hard to imagine how the recipients of Jemima’s organs must feel. Their lives can continue only because Jemima’s life stopped. But we can be sure that the strongest, deepest and most heartfelt response must be one of incalculable gratitude. They have been given life when – without Jemima’s gift – they knew their time to live was fast running out. How could those people possibly express the extent of their indebtedness?
There are some words that are Tardis-like in their ability to convey a weight of meaning far beyond the simplicity of how they sound. These are not long or complicated words; they don’t look very impressive. They’re over so quickly that you have to go back and say them again. But they somehow manage to say all that needs to be said directly, straightforwardly, honestly and fulsomely.
These two words: Thank you.
Supermarkets these days bewilder us with such a vast choice of food that it’s always a question of what we shall eat, not whether we shall eat. In the process of digesting the superabundance of food on offer, we have largely lost the use of our gratitude muscles.
Harvest is that time in the year when we deliberately pause and try to express to God our indebtedness for his daily provision of our most basic life-sustaining needs. Our response is unlikely to be at the intensity of the people saved by Jemima’s organs, but we will fill those two simple words as best we can with a year’s worth of meaning. If you would like to say ‘Thank you’ with us, please do join us for one of our Harvest services. You’ll find the details in this Bowdon Church News.
Ian Rumsey, Vicar