My Uncle’s Heart: On Love, Grief, and Hope

Throughout this unique season, we’re inviting members of The Parish community to share reflections from their own lives. In this post, Melanie Heineman shares her eulogy for her Uncle, who passed away last month. In Melanie’s reflections, we find a call to hope and love in the midst of grief.

I lost my Uncle February 7th.

He was married to my Aunt for almost 50 years. Having lost my own father when I was 10 he was precious to me. He had been battling for his life for almost 2 years with heart valve issues, so his death was not a surprise but still a shock.

Family tensions were high leading up to the service. The morning of the service I woke up at 5 am… not like me at all …unable to sleep. I had thoughts about my Uncle running through my head. I felt that if I wrote them down, maybe I could sleep some more before Kevin and I drove to Alabama for the funeral.

I felt I should give what I wrote to my Aunt… but when? I sent a screen shot to my Cousin on the way over and she asked me to deliver part of the eulogy… you see, what I wrote mirrored what she wrote. I later found out these words from God on generosity, love and hope were an answer to my Aunts’s prayers for a peaceful service. This became an example to me that we are the body of Christ and we are the answer to prayers.

Click through the images below to read Melanie’s eulogy to her Uncle.