Hope and Comfort
I know you have lost someone you love to death. We all have.
There is no way to avoid that happening.
But, there is hope and comfort in knowing you are not alone. In more ways than you know.
God’s love, God’s creation never ends and the knowledge that
someone we love and have lost to the death of the body continues loving is the
hope and comfort we all can rely on.
Just as God’s love is in every breath, every sunrise and
sunset, every doubt and every fear, there is the comfort of our loved ones are
always loving us and showing us their love in a thousand ways.
I know many friends who have experienced a loved one showing
their love and their presence, just as I have.
Soon after my husband passed, on four different occasions, (others
with me experienced it as well) we smelled freshly sawed wood. It’s an unmistakable smell and I had smelled
many times because my husband was a wood worker, designer, carpenter, whatever
the term. Three of the instances were in
a bedroom, a sewing room and a car. The
fourth was in the garage. But, there was
no one sawing wood on any of the occasions.
These times happened within three months of his passing.
The time in the car must be the most poignant experience and
it was the last time I smelled this. I
was driving to pick up my grandson from school and I was worrying and fretting
about my soon to be birthday (which was also our anniversary) and if there
would be enough food that I had planned to have. I parked and laughed out loud
for the first time in months and I said, “Well, Charles would say, “Oh, they
can just eat more cake if they are still hungry.” I continued to laugh and then I smelled
it. The car was not running, I was in
the elementary school parking lot and there was no one sawing wood, but it was
there and unmistakable.
Recently I shared a story on Facebook after I announced my
book of poetry was published. The cover shows
two butterflies, and my dear friend who designed it sent those to me without
knowing the significance. The summer
after Charles died I was mowing the almost 2 acres we kept mowed. I was sitting on that mower, bawling my eyes
out because it wouldn’t start and because I was so angry that he had left
me. A butterfly just like the one on my
book cover landed on the mower and when I tried to start it again, it started,
and that butterfly rode with me as I mowed.
After that, whenever I was “losing it” or having a bad day
or trying to decide something important, one of those butterflies would show up
and either land on me or next to me. The
day I got the call about my brother having cancer, there was the
butterfly.
When I got the email with the design of the butterflies, I
knew it was Charles cheering me on and showing his love. Our love for them and their love for us never
dies. There is comfort and hope in that
knowledge. One of the reasons I began to
write in earnest was because Charles was my biggest advocate.
These signs or messages are everywhere. Accept them for what they are and be grateful
and enjoy the love they are sending.
Love Goes On
Your love changed me.
Your love guided me.
Your love sustained me.
I feel your love in the silent times.
I see your love in the butterfly that always finds me.
I hear your love in the early morning hello from a cardinal.
Love does go on.
You are always with me.
Design by Diane Pinsart
https://smile.amazon.com/Pat-Wade-Nicholson/e/B07DD53R8R/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1528800353&sr=1-1
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