Death is not an end, but a beginning. It is but an incident in the ‘life of the ages’, which is God’s gift to us now. It is the escape of the spirit from its old limitations and its freeing for a larger and more glorious career. We stand around the grave, and as we take our last, lingering look, too often our thoughts are there; and we return to the desolate home feeling that all that made life lovely has been left behind on the bleak hillside… Yet the spirit now is free, and the unseen angel at our side points upwards from the grave and whispers, ‘He is not here, but is risen’. The dear one returns with us to our home, ready and able, as never before, to comfort, encourage, and beckon us onward.

William Littleboy, 1917