Loss Closed the Door Love Opened
I know how quickly things can change. I had just turned eleven. Still thrilled with double digits, when my mother died. I love when people ask me questions. No one asked me anything. “Are you ok? Do you need anything? How do you feel?” I was brave and very quiet, which must have been a great relief to all the grown ups. Not knowing what to do with me, my father left me, and broke my already broken heart.
Loss closed the door love opened, leaving a painful emptiness, but also taught me how to give the gift that I’d been hoping for. Eventually, I learned that bringing comfort was almost better than being comforted, and giving
solace was greater than seeking my own reward. And I grew stronger in the winds that whipped me, than if I had been sheltered. Oh happy day, when I decided to drop my bitterness. I know the world can be ugly, but I don’t have to lose my heart to it.
I am called to beauty, perhaps as a vocation. It gives me peace to share and peace to call my own. If there’s a better way for me to spend my time and energy and talent, I should gladly like to hear it. Fortunate am I, to have re-discovered joy.
LBM 5/27/09

