Love, Life and Death

Yesterday we did something that I hope no one has to do. We attended the funeral of a 19 y.o. friend of our son's. Worst of all, this young, handsome, intelligent guy took his own life. It is gut-wrenching, and unexplainable.

I am a person that has been faced with death a lot in my life and I've learned to deal with death fairly well. In HS, I lost all 3 grandparents (I only had 3) in just over 1 year. My father died in a car accident when I was 26. I lost our first pregnancy to a miscarriage. I have been a nurse for 30 years this year. The first death I ever saw was when I was a nurse aid during college, when I was 19. I was a Hospice Nurse in the early 90s. I've dealt with death a lot.

Yesterday was hard. Not just because it was the death of a young man, not just because of the cause of his death, not because I had to hug a mother who just lost her son, but also because my own son was hurting.

Any parent knows they would do anything so their child does not have to hurt. But we cannot take the hurt out of our children's lives. However; pain, problems, trouble, hurt is what makes us grow and mature and find what is important in life.

I think of God and that HE has to watch us make mistakes and go through tremendous hurts in life, knowing that we are growing and learning and hopefully getting close to HIM,

As I have to watch my children grow and hurt, I pray that they are learning more about themselves and about God. I pray that with every hurt they go through, they grow closer to God and rely more on HIM.