And All Around is Sorrow

We have been doing well and yet....

Everywhere around us is sorrow. It hasn't touched us too closely yet but in our connected world, I am touched by the brevity and uncertainty of life. Last week my second cousin (whom I have never met or communicated with), a 29-year mom of a 5-yr old and 2-yr old died. Her husband had just returned from a tour in Iraq. She was sitting in the living room and he kissed her before going outside for awhile. When he returned she was unconscious. A few days later her family made the hard decision to remove the ventilator after being told she was in a vegetative state.

Then over the weekend, the brother of a student who attends my brother's law school accidentally killed his bride of three months. That story is here. And an update here.

Then yesterday, this. I don't know Amy Welborn (though I love her blog) and I didn't know her husband Michael Dubruiel, but my heart stopped when I read that he had died. A 40-year old father of young children who dropped dead unexplainedly at the gym.

These situations move me in sympathy. But they also remind me that it could be me. I could be the young widow or my children could be the motherless children. And I am driven straight to my knees to find again, even in sorrow, trust. Not that it won't happen to me, but that I can trust my heart and life to my Creator.

And I'm thankful to Amy Welborn for sharing this priceless gift she received today when her husband's secretary sent over his last column. His words are so much more profound than mine. I will treasure them as I inch a little bit closer to trust.