Tears...

I just started reading a book that was recommended...it's called "Chasing Francis" by Ian Morgan Cron...

Sometimes books start off with a bang...sometimes they take a few chapters to draw you in...on page 24 a child has died...I read..."Maggie ran her fingers over the outlines of Iris's knobby legs, limp and quiet beneath the white sheets, and whispered, "O child," as though her child had only bumped her head and run home to mama seeking solace. It was a keening that could make the universe bow its head in sorrow and accord."

Oh my...the tears started falling. Although I have experienced the death of loved ones...mostly they have been expected and inevitable. I have never had to face the loss of a child of mine. I do no know that I would have the strength to continue if I had to let one of them go...or the extraordinary grandchild that shares our home.

It has been many years since I've heard the word "keening"...but at that moment I felt it. Sometimes an author has the ability to make you feel...for better or for worse. Or perhaps this was God getting my attention. Whatever the reason, it felt as though my own heart were breaking for a child in a novel.

"Dear Lord, please be near those who have suffered such loss. Give them strength and courage but most of all your tender love...help them through the dark days. But also, dearest Father, give those of us blessed with healthy, vibrant children a heart for those who have lost. Keep us open and ready to reach out and hold them when they need us...forbid us from turning away because it is too hard to put ourselves in their shoes. Amen"

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