Dealing With Loss

Yesterday one our immediate family members died. Although she wasn't human, she was a member of our family. Rajah, our cat, was killed crossing the road in front of our house. She was brought into our family 17 years ago Michigan when I was on staff in my first ministry position. She was there all those years as our kids grew up. I am deeply saddened. I've had others tell me over the years the pain they had felt losing a family pet, but this time I'm experiencing it. I've been effected by this loss much more than I ever thought I would be. I miss her coming and sitting next to me in my chair at night and her loud meow in the morning when she was hungry. This morning when I took Buster (our dog) for his walk in the park the song "Blessed Be Your Name" came to mind. I started remembering the words to this song that I've sung many times over the last couple of years. "Blessed be Your Name when the sun's shining down on me, when the world's all as it should be, blessed be Your Name. Blessed be Your Name on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your Name...You give and take away...My heart will choose to say, Blessed be Your Name." Those are easy words to sing in church when things are going great. It's another to sing those words when you don't understand or see. God gives us so many good things. And sometimes He takes them away. That's when I have a choice. Will I choose to bless Him or blame Him when life doesn't seem fair? I shared this with my wife this morning and then when we got to the church we attending right now while preparing to start Mosaic...guess what was the first song we sang? You guessed it..."Blessed Be Your Name." I guess the Spirit knew I needed that.
Duane