AN EMPTY PLACE AT THE TABLE

There is an empty place at the table.  As you sit at your table  with an empty chair it is a  stark reminder of your loss.  The longing is intense as you stare at that empty spot and no one else can ever replace the one who claimed that reserved spot.

Whatever the reason for the loss---loss is loss---and pain is pain--the day to day struggle remains the same.  Is there any answer?  The sharp intense pain may ease with time, but that chair remains empty and can never be filled again.  The crippling pain lessens, but the dull ache---it resurfaces each time you stare at that empty chair.

Reminded this weekend by a sweet friend of the huge hole left in a heart when loss  occurred.  She told me, "My heart aches to hold her."  The stark face of grief in a few short words hit me full in the face.  I struggled with an answer to that which has no explanation and words are only empty platitudes of good intent.

My attempt at an answer-In God there is no time---no days to mark a loss.  In heaven there is no calendar, only eternity stretching before you in the glorious presence of the Most High.  The chair is empty, and this is the day to lean into Him in trust.  There are no good answers---but there is hope and assurance of eternal life.  Someday the space will be filled and all the chairs full--but for now---

     LEAN IN.

"Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

I Peter 5:7