Drove home this morning from visiting the grandchildren in Georgia under a sunny, blue cloudless sky. Enjoyed my grandsons’ band concert last night. I loved my years in the high school band and it thrills me to attend their concerts. My youngest grandson is playing my trumpet. I also attended the Spanish Honor Society induction for my oldest grandson. The whole ceremony was in Spanish so I was lost except when they called his name to receive his certificate. I took Latin in high school.

Forgot to set my watch back to Alabama time so I cooked supper earlier than usual and I had more porch time after supper. The sky was so pretty in the evening’s gloaming, full of fluffy clouds kissed snow white on their crowns from the sun’s rays, their bellies gray with Father Sky’s cigar smoke. The cardinals and purple finches were all over the yard and perched on the feeders and bird baths. Mother Nature sent me a tiny hummingbird visitor late afternoon and a pair of chunky red breasted grosbeaks. The male grosbeaks are beautiful creatures dressed in black and white suits with a brilliant red kerchief hanging down their snow white breasts. The females are demurely dressed in soft brown velvet with a bold white stripe over their eyes. I saw two scarlet tangers on the drive home, so beautiful in their crayon red plumage, theirs wing tips inky black. It’s probably been 30 years since I’ve seen one of these birds.

I enjoyed my visit but was happy when I saw the highway sign proclaiming “Sweet Home Alabama.” I love my home and its porch. Bible scripture tells us our home is a place of refuge, peace, and spiritual commitment. I feel close to God when I sit in the swing and listen to the songbirds symphonies. Deciding to follow God’s commandments is a daily personal choice. We read in Joshua 24:15, “But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The verse reminds us to emphasize our faith at home, to build a strong foundation of faith in our daily lives, to live a life revolving around trusting in God, a life of service and commitment. Isaiah 32:18 reads, “My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” The Lord wants our home and our faith to be a secure refuge. “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established,” Proverbs 24:3.

When I was watching a western movie today Wyatt Earp’s father told him, “Life is all about loss, but we go on.” I’m pondering that sentence and thinking of all the loss we face in a lifetime. As children we say good bye to faithful pets and much loved grandparents. Some of us lose our parents before we’re ready for them to leave us. Others such as myself, suffer the nightmare of burying a child and the inevitable death of a beloved spouse. We lose our homes, we lose our jobs, we lose our friends, we lose our dreams…but the world keeps turning on its axis. Loss is just an inevitable and difficult part of our lives. Grief is a very personal healing journey that everyone walks at their own pace.

“There are two things in life that change you forever, love and grief.” Found this on the back of an envelope with no one to credit. I’ve read that great love gives way to great grief. Love is a powerful emotion and can change us. We have to be brave when we risk loving because the price of losing that love is grief. I love this quote by Jamie Anderson. “Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All of the unspent love gathers in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in the hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.” What a wonderful expression of grief, “just love with no place to go.”

The risk of love and the price of losing love is grief. Grief can lead us back to our life as we realize our capacity to love is endless. Our loved ones are gone but we still love them and find peace in the memories we carry in our hearts. Our grief is our final act with the loved one we lost, reflecting the depth of our emotions. God’s love is powerful. He is with us when our hearts are broken, helping us travel our journey of grief. When we turn to God in prayer he can be a great comfort in our time of suffering. He can give us hope of tomorrow’s sunshine. Jesus says, in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”

“Serenity is the state of acceptance of the things we cannot change.” — merrybody