birds and flowers

Birds and flowers on a sympathy card for some friends.
They have had a terrible loss of a family member and friend who was so young... I didn't know what to write. There were no words of consolation except that I was thinking of them and praying for them. And crying for them, even though I didn't even know him.
The only thing to heal that kind of loss is time I guess, and that's not exactly a comforting thing to write. .."One day this will only be dull ache instead of the tearing pain you feel now in your soul. One day you might be able to smile at a memory and one day you will be okay."

It made me realize too, that we have to have hope in our life to come. That one day they can be with him again and all the money and success in this world has nothing to do with that. The only thing to get us through a time like this in is hope and trust in God. I am so stuck on this earth, in my self-obsessed life, I have no hope of knowing what will be next after this life, but I do want my life here to get me there. I need to be reminded that this material existence is not the end, that whatever happens here, living a life for Christ will see me through.

...Easier said than done though... but I'm all about trying.

(I should take my own advice - I always tell my little girls at the gym club where I coach, "I don't care if you can't do it, I don't expect you to do it perfectly, I just want you try your best, that's what counts.")