Love and Loss…

I had the pleasure of crossing paths with an inspirational woman who had recently lost her spouse.  She was full of poise and grace, yet she was a freshly grieving widow.  You could almost feel her sadness.  She had suffered a great loss because he was the love of her life for many years.  It appeared to me that they had grown old together.

She probably already knew this, but I felt compelled to go to her and let her know that she was blessed to even have loved so much and for so long.

She said, you’re right and thanked me for my words.  At that moment, she expressed a sense of comfort by way of a simple sigh and a slight change of facial expression from her obvious sadness. I’m pretty sure she felt God’s presence and realized just where her blessing of marriage and true love originated from.

You see, there are some people who have loved and lost through untimely deaths, breakups, or otherwise, but there are others who go through their entire lives and never even experience what it is to truly love and to be loved as this woman did.  That was her special blessing!

So, in my opinion, it is better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all.  I remember someone telling me this after my grandfather passed away because I loved him so much that it felt like I had lost my whole world.

I remember grieving so heavily and praying for God to “Please send me someone to love” to fill the void that was created from the loss of my grandfather, and the next thing I knew, I was the proud mother of my first child.   I was young, so I didn’t understand prayer so much then.

I realize now that I had taken matters into my own hands and tried to play God at the time because an unequally yoked marriage, divorce, and the consequences of young single parenthood followed.

However, I do believe that God had a strong hand in bringing my son to me because the day he was born, my deep sadness was no more.  His birth was the best moment of my life.  Although I kept my grandfather close to my heart, and still do to this day, I became focused on this little life that God had entrusted me with.

Because of my experience many years ago, I felt a connection when I saw this woman.  I could relate to her, maybe not to the latter, yet the feelings of love and loss were very relatable.  I pray that she has found comfort and is relieved of her sadness through God’s love for her (Matthew 5:4).

What inspired me about this woman was the depth of love that she expressed when she spoke of her husband.  Most of us can only dream of experiencing that kind of love.

Love is special, Love is true, Love lasts forever in our hearts…