The Gentle Silence

       There was an air of expectancy this morning.  Not a leaf was stirring and the day had not declared itself yet.  The wind was sitting up in bed watching,  but all was quiet.  My thoughts flew Heavenward and I prayed one of those rapid-fire thanksgivings for my night of sleep. God is good.  He knows us and He loves us and you know something, that's all we need all day today.

     But somebody's heart is disconsolate.  Their dearest loved one has left this earth and even though they knew where that dear one was destined, there is a clammy desolation that shrouds this morning.   It is hard to pray in complete sentences. But God knows.  He is there.
     I will not soon forget when our six-month old baby Martha died in her carriage that long-ago May morning.  It was so total.  My insides just screamed for something to make the pain go away.  Friends tried, oh that they did.  But Bible verses were not what I needed that morning.  I wanted them to leave me alone - - kind of like that old Scottish lady who just wanted to sit there and throw her apron over head so she could be alone in her tabernacle with her God.
      Grief is a private matter and sometimes for some people two words best convey how your heart echoes their grief. 
      "I'm bruised"
      Then a gentle silence and often two hearts touch base as they share the heartbreak.
"God, it's okay.  You know what is best for them and for me. But, without them, life is not quite as okay, a certain something is missing and a part of me is gone. "
         And God smiles down at us from Heaven for He understands.  He made us - - remember?  
         In the Book of John, in the eleventh chapter and the 33rd verse, read;
        "When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled - - "  and then two verses later the Bible records two words;
           "Jesus wept."