Ran to town this afternoon, still ignoring the Christmas sections in the stores, too early for me, when we’ve just begun celebrating the wondrous fall and its glorious leaf paintings. Seems Christmas becomes more commercialized each year. But when I saw the Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes…had to snag a pack for my buggy. I’m ashamed but they are so good with coffee.

I’m sitting outside watching the dusk slowly kiss the neighborhood into darkness tonight. The cardinals are getting their last bit of sunflower seeds before they head to their roosts. A lone gray squirrel, with a question mark shaped tail, is drinking from the bird bath, sipping quietly, very alert. Kat is eating a lizard for her dessert, one little lizard leg hanging out of her mouth. Penelope is pouting under her fox blanket because she didn’t get in on the lizard torturing.

The sun is rolling down the horizon as a blinding ball of sterling silver, her kaleidoscope of sunbeams kissing the tops of the tall oaks and magnolias, highlighting their crown’s with golden light. When Father Sky grabbed the sun’s hand to escort her down the horizon, Mother Nature picked up her watercolor palette and brushed a pale orange wildlife that swept across the landscape and silhouetted the oaks and magnolia trees jet black. The fire blazed up dark orange and was quickly put out as the night’s darkness smothered the flames. I love watching the gloaming on the landscape. Might be my favorite part of the day.

Heard a character on a tv show remark on tragedy and it stuck around in my mind and thoughts today. He said, “Tragedy is always around the corner, you just have to push through it to find happiness again.” Tragedy is defined as a very sad event or situation, especially one involving death or suffering. Experiencing a tragedy is a life altering experience but we have to face the situation, acknowledge the pain, and persevere through it before we can move to a better place. We need God’s grace to help us find the sunshine of happiness again.

When my daughter died in a car wreck at age 17, it was a tragedy and a nightmare for our whole family but I can honestly say Chief and I weathered the storms of grief and strengthened our marriage and our faith. Not saying it was an easy path and 23 years later it’s still the last thought on my mind at night and the first thought on my morning’s wake. We grieve for our loved ones and all the events that will not come to pass, the milestones of a happy life. But we consciously choose happiness and that acceptance requires effort to push the grief down and accept the sunshine of the world. You never “get over it” but you learn to put one foot in front of the other and walk back into life. God is good and gives us strength to face the days and keep walking.

Joseph Smith said, “Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.” I cannot imagine living through a life’s tragedy without the faithfulness and grace that God gives us through our prayers. In order to heal, you have to acknowledge the pain of grief. Psalm 34:18 reads, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

God allows tragedies and sufferings to come so show us there is hope in eternal life. “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted,” Matthew 5:4. Our time on earth is limited and fleeting and we need to trust in God, let him guide us to our heavenly home and a glorious reunion with those who’ve gone before us.

“Faith is unseen but felt, faith is strength when we feel we have none, faith is hope when all seems lost.” — Catherine Pulsifer