richelle-goodrich

A word of consolation may sweetly touch the ear.Now and then a quiet songwill clear the mind of fear.A simple act of kindnesscan ease a load of care.Stories told in memorydiminish all despair.A whispered prayer of comfortdraws angel arms around.Counting blessings, great and small,helps gratitude abound.These acts, all sympathetic,will kindly play their part.But seldom do they dry the tearsshed mutely in the heart.

The effects of loss are acute, and unique to each individual. Not everyone mourns in the same way, but everyone mourns.

Sunlight__ warmth on my face awoke me in the morning. I didn__ remember falling asleep or how I came to be in my own bed. But I did recall nightmares. Awful nightmares featuring Gwen.I turned my head to stare out an open window where the sun shone in full splendor, bleaching a clear sky enough to tell it was going to be a beautiful spring day. The air smelled of rain from overnight showers, mixed with a strong floral scent. A large lilac bush outside was responsible for the perfume. I breathed in the clean and fragrant air. My eyelids fluttered, blinking at a stunning reflection of daylight off the glass. The blue beyond gave an exquisite glow to my room. All of it was an invitation to bask in a new day__n invitation I declined because none of that mattered to me. The world might as well come to a dark and ugly end. I saw no reason for beauty or life to go on so long as Gwen was lost. Rolling over in bed, I felt the vice grips wrench at my heart again as I cried myself back to sleep.

Home is

Forgive and forget is the divine ideal. Grappling with the hurt while biting your tongue and struggling to refuse justifiable vengeance__hat's closer to human reality.

It is a difficult thing__f not impossible__o forgive oneself for foolish errors, not for trampling a life or goring another with sharp horns, but for being the fool who opened the gate and let the bull out, blind to potential consequences.

Forgiveness is a revolving door positioned_in your path. _You must step through it to move on, but it takes both timing and choice to escape walking circles inside.

We all suffer ills at the hands of others; however, reactions to these injustices differ like night and day. Many seek to punish the world for their suffering, while some work hard to save the world from experiencing similar grief.

It is a fight to let go of a past that refuses to withdraw its sticky tentacles from your present.

Forgiving yourself can prove as difficult as licking a scab off your elbow.

I felt ashamed for having judged him so harshly without knowing the real boy. His one offense against me__oaded by Charlie__ bullying character__as easy to forgive.

You and I were never meant to be together, but we are. Our pairing is not unlike two electrons ignoring natural laws in order to orbit one another. Life now defies reason__uirky but beautiful.

If I expect nothing of you, it will be far easier to forgive your offenses than if I place my whole world in your hands.

One grateful thought is a ray of sunshine. _A hundred such thoughts paint a sunrise. _A thousand will rival the glaring sky at noonday - for gratitude is light against the darkness.

Have you noticed how children never bypass a puddle of water, but jump, splash, and slosh right through it? _That's because they know an important truth: Life was meant to be lived; puddles were meant to be experienced.

Life is a test. _It was designed to be so. _It is where we taste the bitter and the sweet; where we feel pain and pleasure; where we learn right from wrong; where we pass through both darkness and light. _It is a time to make choices. _And through this process we form our characters__ome grand and glorious, some barely decent, and others just plain monstrous._

What I learn today I shall know forever. Whether or not I remember that I know it is a different story.

Life is learning to take God's hand.....and hold on.