Dear Lucy...Traces

Yesterday I received a pretty card in the mailfrom a dear lady Lucy loved, and who loved Lucyand we met after her death though I felt like I knew her a littlealready through Lucy. Thank-you M💕 I have a number of  new'Lucy-friends' special in ways I could never have imagined;Priceless traces of a beautiful life! Job 7:9-109 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return. 10 He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more. The above verses impress me like never before,esp. when I drop in at Lucy's place.Her girls and husband valiantlyperform the domestic duties of homeand things are still neat and tidybut their place will never again know Lucy's presencesave in tender traces everywhere. While I was there the other day watching her grandsons whileGranddaughter went to the dentist I puttered about sweeping corners where the wind had blown in some debris,watering planters etc.'why are you doing this? queried her oldest grandson as I swept in front of an ornamental door... and I replied'I'm sweeping the dirt away, just in case Grammy is watching' and we waved up, upto the big yellow and blue sky and shouted 'hi'and he laughed and I cried. 'and' continued her Grandson turning back to the door,'what is this door even for?!!'Then I laughed out loud!How like many males in my life he sounded;What is the point of a door that doesn't open and leads nowhere 😂😂😂 (It turned out it inspired play-restaurant as he served meevery favourite food I could think of!) I miss laughing with Lucy till we criedover things impossible to explain afterward.I miss sharing prayer-cares, recipes, gardening joys and tips,a quick 'cuppa' or hearing her rattle off a poem or a quote because her memory was amazing!Her place is filled with traces of loving careand many have spilled over to my place too.Last year she brought me a few plants. Honeysuckle and Dipladenia... Beautiful traces of her love for growing things. This poem was also inspired in  part by something sharedon my friend's FB memory yesterday ...(the kind of writing Lucy loved and lived) “There is a beauty in the fragility of life, a sweetness to be savored in its fleeting moments of joy. For it is in the rawness of our experiences, both the joyful and the sorrowful, that we truly come alive. We are not meant to shield ourselves from the pain of life, but to embrace it fully, to let it shape us, to teach us, to make us more human. So do not be afraid to love, to open your heart to the world, even if it means risking heartbreak. For the sweetness of love far outweighs the bitterness of loss. And when the inevitable pain comes, find solace in the beauty of the world around you, in the simple pleasures of life, in the memories of love and laughter. For even in the midst of sorrow, there is still beauty to be found.”—Louise Erdrich 'For the sweetness of love far outweighs the bitterness of loss. 'Yes.So on we go, cherishing and considering the bittersweet worth of traceseither forever left behind or being forever left behind! So worth the joy of loveSo worth the air we traceThat teems with tender flickers ofA bygone time and face So worth the letting goWith tears farewell impartsTo trace the sweetness of helloThat echoes in our hearts So worth the picture bookThat wafts upon the breezeWhere oft we pause to trace the crookOf precious memories So worth each tender traceLove scattered in life’s wakeWhile we discover ‘all is grace’While our broken hearts ache So worth the parting kissAs Time's 'never enough' Begins to teach us sorrow isSo worth the joy of love ...so worth the tears that flowAnd God gathers in jarsTo trace the night with their halo (I think we call them stars) © Janet Martin Ps.56:8You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?