June 18

I heard someone say recently at a church gathering that it seemed like she had said goodbye to a lot of people over the past year. Whether it is a death, or someone moving on with their life, the goodbyes are always hard to say but are a sure part of life. It made me think about the song from the musical “Wicked”  called “For Good”. One friend is saying goodbye to another friend and there is a line in the song : “I’ve heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them, and we help them in return.” As a Christian, I believe that God brings people into our lives  at different times to help us with different things. Sometimes those folks are in our lives for a short time and others for a long time. But however long they are in our lives, it is still hard to say goodbye and is sad. As an animal lover, I feel the same way about my pets. I recently lost my cat who was almost 17 years old. I am not really sure what happened to her, I let her out one evening a few weeks ago and she never came back. I suspect she went off to die, but it was sad because I didn’t even get to say goodbye to her. Saying goodbye does help give us closure, but it still hurts. One of the things that gives me comfort is that there is a universal human reaction to someone not being in our lives any longer, we all experience it. It is a change, and we have to adjust. We can remember the lessons they taught us and how they made our lives fuller and happier. And we can ask God for strength, comfort and peace in the midst of our grief.

Second Thessalonians 3:16 “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”