Thinking...

I learned yesterday that a former co-worker of mine lost his five year old daughter in a car accident, and his wife is in critical condition.

My heart aches for their family. I cannot even begin to comprehend what they must be going through.

I held my kids a little closer, a little longer, last night. Something like this, hitting so close to home, really makes you think about what a tenuous hold we have on this life. We should savor each second we get to have with someone, because we just never know when it may be the last.

Life is such a precious gift. It is so hard to understand when it is cut tragically short like this. People question God and why he could let such senselessness happen. I know that there is a reason for everything, but sometimes it feels like those reasons can't possibly be good enough for something of this nature.

I don't know what I would do if I were to lose one of my children. I don't know. I don't want to think about it, how it could happen, how it is always a possibility because one can never know the future. Sometimes, when things like these happen, it's hard not to dwell on those thoughts, however. I have found myself in tears numerous times over the past two days as I think about this precious life cut short, and how easily it could happen to anyone, including my own children.

Whether my prayers are welcome, or not, I do not know. But I do know that I am praying. Praying that they have the strength to make it through this tragedy. Praying that they may learn to live with their loss. Praying that one day they may find peace with it all. I know those days will not come any time soon, for how could they? When the wound is so raw and ugly. But in time, it will begin to heal. The scar will always be there, on their hearts. But I hope, for them, it serves as a reminder of what they had, and not what they lost.