Loved Ones

My family is spread out in multiple states across the country; California, Washington, Delaware, Ohio, Massachusetts and more. We don't see each other often, but the email grapevine has been a reliable way to share news of all types. Successes, challenges, wedding and newborn photos, encouraging each other along life's highway. We have made family of our friends here, so when trouble comes, and email isn't enough, they show up with steaming bowls of food and lip smacking desserts. They bring their smiles and hugs and let us cry on their shoulders. Reaching out to each other in person, or in email, remind us that we are connected to all of God's family. There is a saying I like...Shared joy is double joy, shared sorrow is half sorrow...that speaks to the power of connection to one another. That connection stays strong through our love for those not physically present in our lives, either due to distance or death. We know them, feel them, hear the song they like or smell the perfume they wear. We speak to them in our service to others, feeling the tears on our shoulders, ladling the soup and warm bread to hungry souls. We do not lose those we love, we have them still, all around us in the love of God.