Grandfamilies: Right Things

Ayden, Cadence, Rich, Me. March Field Air Museum. June 2016. Photo: Rodney G. Seiler

How can one weekend hold so much pain? 

From private tragedy to slaughter that devastates us all, this past weekend was a tough one.

What can we hang on to when terror and hate spew from a rifle? How do we keep breathing as a family disintegrates?

Do you remember being admonished to count your blessings? It is a real thing, a good thing, a strong thing to acknowledge the kindnesses and beauties that slip into even the ugliest of days. It is not trivial to count our blessings, especially when we groan in despair. 

A dear friend lists the goodness she finds in each day. I choose today to share some of mine because I still believe that in the darkest moment, slivers of joy shine through if we admit them. 

1. Visiting the air museum with Rich, my dad and two of our grandsons, complete with a picnic and stories to match each aircraft, shared by the menfolk.
2. Serving chocolate chip pancakes and bacon for breakfast.
3. Posing for pictures after church.
   
4. Waking to the sound of cousins chatting quietly in the guest room.
5. Learning a new game–from a grandson.
6. Watching cousins exchange spontaneous hugs upon parting.
7. Sharing sticks of sour apple gum.
8. Spaghetti.
9. Discovering a shy rose blossom, her face turned to the fence:

These good things, these right things, came to me this weekend despite the groaning and the grieving. Maybe you spotted a few blessings, too, between the rising body count and the breathless reporters and the utter horror of it all. It’s not an accident. Pick them up. Treasure them.

And please, I beg you, show them to your children and your grandchildren. They need to see our splinters of hope. 

¹² They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
    and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be like a watered garden,
    and they shall languish no more.
¹³ Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
    and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy;
    I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

Jeremiah 31: 12-13 (ESV)