Equal Parts

We went to our first wedding since all of the funerals yesterday. It was a beautiful, simple ceremony and was extra special because it was the celebration of a wonderful young lady who I have had the opportunity to watch grow up from just a tiny little thing running around between the rows at church. She had set up a table just for those she has lost through the years who should have been at her wedding. And for the first time ever I found myself crying at a wedding. It was awful and beautiful all at the same time.

As we arrived home we were welcomed by the magnificent display of a gorgeous pink, and purple, and peach, and all the shades in between, sunset. Glorious. The sky lights up with these final reminders of hope for the morning every evening. And I'm mesmerized by the intricacies of a God who would place these works of art in my vision. When my emotions fluctuate in the time it takes for light to travel across the universe, when I can see in the face of my husband or my daughter that miniscule flicker of sadness that removes the sparkle from their eyes and causes their smile to wrinkle into a smirk, I am reminded that this too shall pass. That moment between the darkness and the light, the light and the darkness, is the most beautiful canvas on which the Lord can paint His picture of hope.