Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. --2 Corinthians 1:3-4
We walked in slowly to the house where they had just removed the body of John's beloved grandfather. Most of his family was already there. We expected to find weeping, but instead we found a circle of prayer. Heads bowed, hands joined, peace on each brow as words of praise instead of mourning were sent up to our Heavenly Father. We looked at each other briefly and joined in the circle. After the prayer, the family began to sing the full version of Amazing Grace before breaking up the circle.
Once the circle broke, John's widowed grandmother rushed across the room to me and took my hand in hers. She knew of the many losses I have been through that John and most of his family had been spared thus far. She looked into my eyes and whispered, "You know. You've been through this. No body else understands." I hugged her tightly with the empathy of a person who has survived the same fire. Even in the joy of a Christian's passing, in our human fraility we still need permission to mourn. Sometimes our Father uses our warm flesh to give comfort to others in the same way that He's used others to comfort us.
Posted by Kim at March 31, 2006 12:05 PM