Gone but not forgotten.

When spring was in the air and I was a little girl, I imagined the bright colors it would wear through the door. It would smell and feel good and I could play outside much later. Spring meant bike rides and skipping rope and no more heavy coats and mittens.

March was the month that signaled spring was near. I had little girl visions of what March would look like dressed as a “lion” or “lamb”. Much later I discovered that people who came long before me believed there was a balance in the weather and in life. So if the weather came in bad (like a lion) it could go out good and calm (like a lamb) and vice versa. Our lives would mirror the weather. When I was little, I didn’t care because I knew really good things would come soon after March like my birthday! But little girls grow up and out of the safety of their dreams.

As an adult, I reflect emotionally about some of March’s significant comings and goings in my life. Mother was born on the first day of spring and that was always good because we had a big, wonderful and happy celebration. That was mostly because Mother insisted … until she didn’t anymore.  I was married in March and that was wonderful until many years later, sadly it wasn’t. I was officially divorced in March and that hurt. I lost two very close friends in March and that was hard because final separation is always hard, it’s a rule. This past Saturday was my brother-in-law’s funeral and that was a challenge. A flood of memories and emotions took up residence in my heart. Now as a little princess who grew up into a queen, I reached back and grabbed what I have learned about death and loss, regardless of the season.

When God brings death and loss to one area of life, he resurrects it in a new way. Death and loss work in us to bring new life and a new perspective. New perspectives are designed to press us forward in ways that we would never have moved without the experience. It is his strategy to bring such events into our life and he knows just what we each need to gain the reward he has reserved for us. Interestingly, it is never too late. I have learned there are many dimensions of God’s grace. It is more than the unmerited favor. It is the empowerment to face ugly and weakness as temporary conditions. It is energy to hold on until the will to live again returns.

So I promise all those who have left me whenever for whatever reason, you are gone but not forgotten. You are me today.

    Until next time, remember,

• You are not alone.

• You are not your circumstances.

• You have everything within you to live a purpose-filled life.