You glance at the empty pasture and see the life that was once there gone.
Everywhere you look, there are signs of what was lost.
I choose to look inward, and instead of focusing on what I lost, I focus on what I gained.
Every day I had with them before they went home was a profound gift. I am grateful.
I am grateful for the love they deposited in me.
I am grateful for the tremendous joy they brought into my life while I had them.
I am grateful I did not waste one second on useless things that fill time but serve no one.
Grateful I chose to make them my priority as I slowly watched them deteriorate to a place where I only wanted there suffering to end.
Loving them more than I loved myself. Realizing to prolong their existence for my benefit would only bring them days of terrible suffering.
Recognizing that my prayer was answered. It was the ability to see when the appointed time was here when they were ready to go, and when I was ready to facilitate their passage.
I had to focus on alleviating their suffering and not the whole in my heart that would be left behind. The ache that was so difficult to bear. In surrendering, saying Your will, Lord, not mine. Your strength, Lord, not mine.
I realized any storm was endurable when Jesus was with me.
As I got that last hug, that last touch of the face, nuzzling moment, I realized how blessed I was to have closure.
Many have no closure. Loved ones lost, gone, vanished with no rest as uncertainty threatens to consume them.
Where is my son? My daughter? My animal? Where did they go? Did they run away? Were they safe? Are they alive?
I start seeing things differently when I realize how blessed I am.
The landscape of my grief changes into a meadow of beautiful Light where the darkness once loomed.
The Light brings joy, peace, and a strength I did not know I possessed.
I can focus on the painful loss, the empty pasture, or I can focus on the abundant years, days, months, and hours I was graced with.
Do I choose to see the loss or look at the abundant life all around me —the whisper of the wind, the chirp of the bird, the neighing of a neighbor's horse?
I am gripped with a realization that tomorrow is not promised and today is precious.
Let me live each day to its fullness as if it’s my last.
I am grateful for each day and what it brings—living in the abundant love and peace that only Jesus provides.
but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness.” Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me.
13 I can do all things through [a]Christ who strengthens me.
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] Will gain new strength and renew their power; They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun]; They will run and not become weary, They will walk and not grow tired.
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