*Guts: The Prayer Addendum

"The Prayer" continued. Find the silver linings after so many young lives are lost in a tragic incident.

When I think about the things I am NOT grateful for, like losing my dad the day after my 31st birthday, it's tough.  It takes time but I found some blessings.  One blessing that I'll share is that I learned about grief and mourning. Now, because I know a thing or two about loss, my compassion for those who have lost their loved ones is deep and genuine.  Somehow sharing this blessing brings me comfort.  It doesn't bring back my dad, but whenever I offer my heartfelt condolences I know that I touch lives. It's hard to think about blessings and gratefulness when tragic, senseless shootings are happening in our schools and we're living in a divided world. People are fed up with saying prayers and want something done to keep our kids safe. I totally get it. However, we need both: we need protection and we need to have the guts to pray for the silver linings.

The recent Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting brings yet another opportunity to show our faith.  I pray for the victims, their families, the murderer and his family (which takes a lot of guts ).  I also pray that fear and anger lead to a proper discussion which will then lead to real change.  I pray that something good comes from the loss of these young, beautiful lives. Our hearts are heavy - we feel the loss as if it is our own. It's through these terrible times, that heroes and heroines are there to uncover the connections between tragedy and blessings, to help answer the why's and to help us heal our sorrow. These are the times that people who have the talent to communicate, the talent to find solutions, the talent to accomplish goals, the talent to protect and/or the talent to comfort step up and raise all of us with them. May these families and our nation receive the light that shines during darkness.

This Curly Girl Designs quote is one of my favorites when I offer condolences celebrating the light for the life once lived. One silver lining is that every victim's light will remain. This thoughtful pinch comes in the form of a card, a matted print, a plaque, a magnet and a candle. CurlyGirlDesigns has another quote that offers a silver lining after a loss : "We will never be the same as we were before this loss, but are ever so much better for having something so great to lose."

Thinking about lives taken too soon, knowing that many of the students and faculty at this high school and all of the school shootings were meant to be so much more, hurts. However, along with the blaming of a higher power, God, Jesus, gun activists, mental health, social media, our government etc. we need to have the guts to know that we are exactly where we are supposed to be. 

Pinches,

Barb