Love much, hold loosely

In these past 2 weeks death has been on my mind. Not in a morbid way, but I know 2 families that have dealt with loss these past 2 weeks. Very sad.

The first one is a family that I did not know well at all, but belonged to my church. They moved away a month or so ago but the ties that they have here are very strong. They lost their 4 year old daughter to meningitis. In one day, their daughter had something that seemed like a flu and by the next morning, she was gone. She died in her sleep. Let me tell you that this family is SO faithful and truly believes that God is in complete control of all of their lives. They are definitely sad and mourning the loss of their daughter, but the strength and faith that they have had through this very difficult time is SO encouraging.

The second person that died, died from a 10 month battle of pancreatic cancer. She was a friend of my mom's and a coworker of mine. She was at my bridal and baby showers and attended our wedding. I had the opportunity to work with her when I transferred schools before she retired. She even brought me coffee and a pastry some mornings to school. She was an amazingly strong woman that lost her husband 5 years ago to cancer and just remarried 2 years ago to start a new chapter of her life. As she is going to be buried today, I think about how this family is feeling- how it feels to bury your spouse, your mother, your friend. . . to never see her again or feel a warm loving embrace.

I have never truly dealt with grief on an ongoing basis. I have lost all my grandparents- but it was different for me from what these 2 families are going through. I woke up this morning unable to sleep and started to pray for them. I prayed especially for the days to come as they have to learn how to cope and live without the one they love.

All of this has reminded me that the way that we view God determines HOW we live our lives. What do we truly think about God? Do we think He is he a loving, kind and merciful father or a lawgiver that wants us to follow rules? How do we deal with things in our lives- from stubbing our toe. . . to the way we respond to death? It all goes back to how we view God.

This brings me back to my title, "love much, hold loosely." I believe that God wants us to love much, but to hold on loosely to those that we love since they are not truly ours- but God's- we are just loaning them for a period of time. I remember this when I tiptoe into my children's rooms while they are sleeping to gaze at them and quietly whisper that they are God's beloved child- just like me.

For those of you that were just looking for pictures and my updates- thanks for letting me ramble on about something that is dear to my heart. I PROMISE that pictures and info. will be coming soon!