Lessons Learned From a Visit to a Country Graveyar

The Poca Hollow cemetery 

"It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes {it} to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for when a face is sad a heart may be happy. The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure." (Ecclesiastes 7:2-4)

 I visited the Poca Hollow cemetery last month.  My first trip to this hidden little graveyard nestled in the boot heel of Missouri was some thirty years ago, in 1980.  My wife’s clan is from there.  This cemetery overlooks an almost forgotten civil war battlefield. The locals point to the valley where the Yankees came through, then point to some of the old buildings (over their shoulder, behind the picture) that still have civil war bullets in them.  The anonymity is fair enough… except for the family this cemetery is almost forgotten as well.   You don’t just accidentally go there… you have to know where it is and choose to visit it.

Today Poca Hollow is a peaceful place.  As you thoughtfully stroll among the stones, contemplating the human lives represented by each grave, numerous Biblical passages cannot help but come to mind.  The first scripture is obvious….

“For, "ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER." And this is the word which was preached to you.” (I Peter 1:24-25)