~Blessed New Year 2015~ Being Held...

Sweet thoughts found on Facebook tonight when I am feeling speechless...

On Joy and Sorrow

~Kahlil Gibran



Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain...

Some of you say, "Joy is greater thar sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is there too, simply asleep upon your bed...

They are both sacred, sorrow and joy.

~~~

~~~

~~~

Merry Katherine (age 18) and me,

Thanksgiving 2005

I would have her with me
less than 1 more year...

Thanks to our Lord,
some sweet Day,
I will hold her in my arms again!





Meanwhile...

~May you have a very Blessed New Year~

May our Lord hold you 
in the shadow of His wings...

1st, 2nd, & 3rd graphic ~ thanks to
https://www.facebook.com/drjoannec

Picture ~ mine

4th graphic, thanks to

Denise Rork ༺♥༻

Psalm 36:7

http://pinterest.com/pin/124341639683927488/

5th graphic, thanks to

Marie-Anne Webster 

He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge.. Psalm 91:4

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/484629609873496179/

Wednesday's Woe - Pulling the Strings of My Broken Heart…

Wednesday's Woe

Pulling the Strings of My Broken Heart…

My granddaughter hugged me yesterday

She wrapped me close in her arms

Just 18 months old, but so full of love,

So full of life with her smile that charms.

How can she love me, I ask myself,

So emptied am I by death?

There's no one here; I see my life up on a shelf:

And yet, her first hug takes away my breath...

What is this, the power of love,

That brings such tears from my eyes?

This little one lifts my eyes Above

To search for you in the skies…

A little girl that brings such laughter,

A heart of gold, tender words from her heart

Brings me glimpses of the Ever After

For this is a love only God could impart.

Such gifts of love, my granddaughter and you,

How does my heart contain such love?

Tender moments, like I had with you

Make me know again, our God IS Love!

Hold her close, dear God who draws near...

Hold my child when I cannot,

And hold close this little one who is here

Reminding me there's still life in this broken heart…

Tell me Lord,

How does such a little one

Know so deeply of Your love?

So little, yet so full of You…

Tiny, yet Your love shines through.

Our Father, though in Heaven, Thou art

Thankfully, pulling the strings of my broken heart.

Poem - Pulling the Strings of My Broken Heart... - Angie Bennett Prince - February 26, 2013

Picture, thanks to ~Angel's Attic

Wednesday's Woe - No Hits, No Errors, but a Whole Lot of Hurt… ~Tommy Prince

Wednesday's Woe

No Hits, No Errors, but a Whole Lot of Hurt…

~Tommy Prince

I was making a WalMart run. Usually I don't like to see anyone I know when I run errands, but especially this particular day because I was shopping for diapers… not for our granddaughter, but for myself…! Yeah, that's what comes with recovering from prostate surgery!

So, what happened was… in the store, I briefly encounter this guy, recognizing him as a guy that I knew from high school (Yeah, I'm living in the same city that I grew up in), and his son played sports with one of our sons as they were growing up, only his son pursued a professional career in athletics and was called up to the major leagues this summer to play catcher for a professional baseball team. I saw this acquaintance briefly and then he was gone; I began remembering some things about him.

I finished shopping and was leaving the store. As I was approaching my car, I spotted him coming to his vehicle that was parked fairly close to mine. I went over to talk to him. I told him ~ "I've only watched two baseball games this year, yet your son played in both of them, and he was even featured in ESPN Sports Center because of the outstanding plays he made as a catcher!"

As we were talking along and catching up with each other, his question comes back to me, "So what all's been going on with you?" and I haven't seen him in over ten years….

Chronologically, my dad has just died, and I've had a radical prostatectomy in the last few weeks, but I find what comes out of my mouth was,

"Our 19-year-old daughter was killed five years ago!"

It overrode everything, and I heard myself saying how horrible it has been for us. Fortunately he was very kind and told me how sorry he was, and that (the death of a child) sounded AWFUL, and that he can't imagine how bad that is.

We talked about whether or not we go to class reunions, and I heard myself say,

"I don't go very often because this is what would happen -- I would say my daughter got killed, and there's nothing like that for a conversation stopper."

We continued to talk along and ended up on an upbeat note.

So, I walk away from the conversation, glad that it went okay, but feeling so vulnerable. Telling about Merry Katherine's death in a spontaneous encounter like that, and for it to be his first time in hearing the news, effectually exposed my deep woundedess.

This encounter happened on Thursday, but it affected me all weekend. I was depressed all weekend. It's like at some level, I think I have my grief over her death at a "manageable" or at least tolerable level, yet such an encounter tends to blow it wide open.

I was surprised at how I was so powerfully impacted by all (that conversation) in such a negative way. It's like I let the wound out, and it was not going away. And to think, this was actually a positive encounter with a caring dad that, at some level anyway, could "get it."

An innocent conversation with an old acquaintance opens up the woundedness, and it takes three days to get it back to a manageable level. Just a brief encounter, yet I'm down for the count for at least 3 days… And who are those people who think we can somehow be "over" our deep loss? It couldn't get much better than what happened in this impromptu meet-up, yet my heart was sent back to square one…

Picture, thanks to The Compassionate Friends, USA

Wednesday's Woe - My Prayer

Wednesday's Woe

My Prayer

God in Heaven, help me please,

Soothe me with Your healing breeze.

My baby girl has left this world,

May Your wings on me unfurl...

Grief leaves me a helpless child;

Hold me Abba Daddy, meek 'nd mild

E'en as You hold my li'l girl,

Soothe my spirit in this world.

Remind me there'll come a day

We're joined together ~ alway!

Picture - Thank you to @LillyAnn

Poem - My Prayer - Angie Bennett Prince - 11/29/10