Grief and Joy and Love and Life: for a Friend in the Loss of Her Beloved

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For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name... 
Isaiah 54:5

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. 
Psalm 68:5

My dear Cindy,

I heard a song and I thought of you!

I remembered a poem and I thought of you!

And I thought of grief and joy and love and life...and I thought of you, my precious sister-friend!

And I remembered your delightful, creative, godly love of your life Craig, who is now "exploring the mysteries of Christ."

Craig and Cindy

Most of all, I remembered Jesus who has experienced grief and joy and love and life...all of it, so He knows!

So for you my dear friend Cindy (and for those you love and who love you and your Craig) as you face the loss of your dear husband:

First the poem...

Life 
Paul Laurence Dunbar

A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in,
A minute to smile and an hour to weep in,
A pint of joy to a peck of trouble,
And never a laugh but the moans come double;
And that is life!

A crust and a corner that love makes precious,
With a smile to warm and the tears to refresh us;
And joy seems sweeter when cares come after,
And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter;
And that is life!

And then the song:

God Is Love

All we hold is frail and brief 
Patched together by belief 
The pattern only partially 
Revealed for us to see 
What are tears but seeds we sow? 
In fields unseen such harvest grow 
Whose joys will one day overflow 
The measure of our grief

REFRAIN 
If God is love 
Then love we trust 
Is strong enough to hold our sorrow 
If God is love He carries us
We will not fear what comes tomorrow 
Love will heal us 
For God is love

Then suffering's no enemy 
And poverty, no poverty 
And death our greatest victory 
When swallowed up in life

REFRAIN

Though sorrow surge at every step 
Yet goodness is assured 
For none that harms or troubles here
Will speak the final word 
Love speaks the final word

REFRAIN