Be at Peace – on the Loss of a Little One

Two weeks ago, during school holidays, one of the little boys from my children’s school lost his battle with cancer. His private funeral was during the school break, and as I write this, the school is holding their own memorial service to say goodbye to him.

I have felt compelled to stop my work and spend a few minutes concentrating on what's taking place right now at school.

So many people become angry at why a nine year old would be made to suffer and die. Meditating on this, a couple of insights have come to mind:

All children go to heaven. I believe that if a child is taken before they reach a time where they can make a decision for themselves, they are children of God. WHY they are taken remains a mystery and only God knows.

Not knowing the faith or religion of his family, the thought came to mind that perhaps this little boy is one of God’s chosen ones whom God decided to take before he had to go through the searching process we all have to to find Him.

As a parent myself, I am forced to ask God if this is in any way fair? The immediate response that came to mind was this: Would you rather watch a child bearing pain, or would you prefer to carry the pain of grief knowing that your child is now at rest and no longer suffering?

This poem by Edgar Guest has put it in perspective: [Read it substituting the gender]

A Child On Loan

"I'll send you for a little time
A Child of Mine," He said
"For you to love the while she lives,
And mourn for when she's dead."

It may be one or seven years
Or twenty-two and three,
But will you, till I call her back,
Take care of her for me?

She'll bring her charms to gladden you,
And should her stay be brief,
You'll have her lovely memories
As solace for your grief.

I cannot promise she will stay
Since all from earth returns.
But there are lessons taught down there
I want this child to learn.

I've looked the wide world over
In search for teachers true
And from the throngs that crowd life's loves
I have selected you.

Now will you give her all your love,
Not think the labor vain,
Nor hate me when I come to call
And take her back again?"

I fancied that I heard them say,
"Dear Lord, thy will be done
For all the joy Thy child shall bring
The risk of grief we'll run.

We'll shelter her with tenderness
We'll love her while we may
And for the happiness we've known
Forever grateful stay.

But should the angels call for her
Much sooner than we'd planned
We'll brave the bitter grief that comes
And try to understand."

~ Edgar A. Guest ~

I pray that God will comfort the family, and bring them strength, understanding and ultimately peace.

~ Be blessed ~

Installing Love (Tech Notes)

Tech Support:
Yes, .... how can I help you?

Customer:
Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?

Tech Support:
Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer:
Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. What do I do first?

Tech Support:
The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?

Customer:
Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?

Tech Support:
What programs are running?

Customer:
Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.

Tech Support:
No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memorybut it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override LowSelf-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off?

Customer:
I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support:
With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer:
Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?

Tech Support:
Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.

Customer:
Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - Program not run on external components" What should I do?

Tech Support:
Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.

Customer:
So, what should I do?

Tech Support:
Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.

Customer:
Okay, done.

Tech Support:
Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.

Customer:
Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support:
Sometimes. For others it takes a while, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

Customer:
Thank you, God

[source unknown]

Be blessed
-c-