Grief-frames

Happy 82nd Birthday, dear Mom born Nov.1, 1942(photo credit on this post goes to my sister Marlene) Yesterday, at my mother's annual birthday tea-partythe presence of each other seemed more treasured, our love more tender than ever before,in the light of grief... My mom asked if she could host it(for the first time ever) in what has been a traditionfor SO many years!If Lucy were here I could count on her to rememberwhen it started, who hosted itand maybe even what she was wearing andif/who she was pregnant with...😅😂💖She had an incredible memory!! Because mom hosted it, Dad could enjoy the celebration too 💝(although we have another one on Sunday that includes our men as well) Grief ebbs, then rushes in like a billow, invisibleIt rolls through heart and soul with staggering intensityIt strips us of all pretense; Love's most severe crucibleAs God, who IS love, tries the Part that He alone can see Grief sends us on a journey we would never choose to takeAround and 'round a gaping void, veiled by façades, skin-thinIt winds heartstrings through phantom frames where echoes tug and acheWoven from moments not unlike the moments we are in Grief moans like autumn's lonely wind through woodlands, leaf-bereftIt sobs, like summer, silenced by its sum of Season-sandFrom detonated dreamlands, it examines what is leftSifting through drifts of rubble diamond-dust, where once Love laughed and planned Grief teaches us to live with an 'if the Lord wills' regardTo love as if Today could be the last for you or me  It stirs holier handling of dawn's invitation cardBecause Today does not come with a Morrow-guarantee Grief metes Love's Must; relentless thrust of waves, dash-crash-recede Then, with renewed velocity, returns with wrenching pains To wander rooms, once full of Innocence we did not heedWhere now his/her essence of presence, like a shadow remains Grief takes us to the arms of friends and family so dearAnd it is no coincidence, it drives us to our kneesTo draw us to The Sacred Solace of God's list'ning ear *And glimpses to the Inner Room of Heaven's Mysteries/Sympathies Janet 💔🙏 The verses below comfort me constantly,as I lift my wordless groans to God's intercession Rom.8:26-27In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Below, yesterday's timely and profound devotionfrom the book Streams in the Desert, Vol.1(* this devotion articulates splendidly, the last line in today's poem) While I was working on this posta friend sent me these words...She is mourning the loss of a friend who passed away this week."God is so gracious and so tender, even though we might never get the ‘why’ on this side of heaven."Thank-you, Joanne!(Her friend was released from a brave battle with ALS) And last but not least...My mom with her salt and pepper shaker collection200+ pairs! Yesterday she invited each of us to choose a pair,before she gives her grandchildren the opportunity to do the same I chose these Siamese cats.They have lived in my mother's china hutch sincebefore I was born.From her friend Mary (Mrs. Abner Martin) My two 'little sisters' enjoying their choices!Lucy was the middle sister...