Comfort

I was scrolling through pictures today and came across this one. Emily is digging a grave for her bunny. This was not to long after Mom had died and I had stayed in the house and let Pete take care of the issue because we had already been through the tears of the initial death, and I was not able (or so I thought) to handle even one more small bit of sadness. As I looked out the window though, the thoughts started to flood my mind. What was this like for Emily? Was she glad to be a part of this part of the process? Was it therapeutic for her in terms of dealing with the loss of not only her bunny, but her Gramma. Was she begrudging the hard work? I was unable to engage her in those questions at the time. I was way to self focused. I watched from afar for awhile and them my curiosity got the best of me. I got the camera and shot some pictures from the house and then closer and closer until I was on the hill with them. Pete helped Emily with the harder parts and then after placing the bunny in the ground, Emily covered it with dirt and we prayed and thanked God for the blessing Emily's pet had been to her. We had buried Rebekah's bird where you see the cross in the picture, months before. We have started our own little cemetary on the hill. It is a place to remember Gods blessings to us in the love of pets and to realize life is sometimes hard. It is a gift from God that we can share our joys and sorrows with each other and with Him. Grief is to be lived out, never hidden or put on a shelf. If we don't engage it, it will plague us until we do. IICorinthians 1:3-5 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our trouble, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."

God's provision is perfect as always. Through it he allows us to have the privilege of caring for others.