Psalm 119:54 “Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge.”
Our hearts break as we once more add another mother to our list of names. This list grows everyday as another mother faces the reality of living her life without her child. This is not a club any one of us wishes to become a member. In fact, from the moment of conception, we pray this club never opens its doors to us. Who would want to join a club where your common goal is to learn how to get on with your life without your child? The initiation into this club costs way too much. It is a club that requires its members to pay its dues with the price of a broken heart. Those of us who are already in this club are daily walking around future members. They could be friends or family, neighbors or co-workers. This uninvited guest of death always comes when we are ill prepared.
What we can be prepared for is living our lives as we have been instructed. God told us what the two greatest commandments were. We are to love God and then to love others. In our love of God and others, we must search out these broken hearts and offer them hope and encouragement. As the dark curtain of our grief is lifted, w e can soon see love, faith, hope and finally joy. As a lifetime member, the desire of our hearts should be one of helping others lift their curtain of grief. This is what we have to offer to our newest members of this club, God’s love and our love.
There was a song I remember singing as a little girl in church. I loved it, not so much for the words but for the melody. I was at such a young age, I did not understand just how powerful those words were. As I have matured and have been through some stuff, these words express just what the Lord has asked of each of us. These words were penned by St. Francis of Assisi.
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, healing;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not seek
So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in the healing that we are healed; and it is in the dying that we are born to eternal life."
Lord, I pray this is the song that comes from our heart as we live each day.
– Michele
