Nothing Gold Can Stay

"Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold
Her early leaf's a flower
But only so an hour
Then leaf subsides to leaf
So Eden sank to grief
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay." by Robert Frost

A story in the gospel of John tells us of a blind man, one of the many people healed by Jesus. When they first encountered him, the disciples with inquiring minds wanted to know. "Master," they asked, "who sinned; this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus told them that no one had sinned. Not the man. Not his parents. "But that the works of God should be manifest in him."

This past week there has been much speculation as to what caused the sad downward spiral and death of Whitney Houston. It has been examined from every angle in the media, and I will confess that I have been keeping up with it much more than I usually do when it comes to these celebrity stories. As we talk about drugs and alcohol, the pressures of celebrity, her stormy marriage, it becomes very complicated. We want answers. As if that would change anything. As if that would bring her back. As if that would soothe the grief that her mother and her daughter are now enduring. I think the question we are really asking is, "Who do we blame for this?"

Last night on television a man who personally knew Miss Houston said, "There is plenty of blame to go around." On the one hand, he is probably right. But on the other hand, maybe it's not complicated at all. Maybe it's actually quite simple when we stop playing the blame game.

She was a golden girl, a woman with an amazing gift to touch our emotions with the sound of her voice. She generously shared the glory of her gift with us, and now she is gone.

Susan