Bittersweet

I know I usually include a picture with these posts but today I could not find one that fit...

Today was a bittersweet day.  The bitterness?  I learned early this morning that one of our beloved co-workers passed away yesterday after a long illness. The bitterness? 2 months ago he married one of my other co-workers with whom I've been working since Day 1 (and always hoped she'd find someone to marry!) We and a bunch of other co-workers attended their wedding celebration...a wonderful affair.  They were so SO very happy...The bitterness? She went from bride to widow in 2 months. The bitterness? He leaves behind a new bride and a son who is a young man. The bitterness? This is the third time I've lost a co-worker during my tenure to the same family of diseases.

The sweetness? My foundation is sure...the winds picked up a bit today as I grieved the loss of one co-worker and the loss for another. But I did not crumble...for I knowthatIknowthatIknow. The sweetness? Our staff was allowed the space to grieve today...even encouraged to come together as a community and put "work" on pause to just "be".  A group of us gathered together and shared stories, pain, tears, grief, memories, and hopes. We stood in a circle, held hands, prayed, stayed silent, and were allowed the opportunity to express how we felt...in the middle of a work day...with a major fund raising event less than 1 week away...The sweetness? That as a staff, as an organization, we CAN do that and were encouraged to do that. That we could pray. That we did. The sweetness? My co-worker left behind is also a believer...and a devastating as I know this process was for her and is today and will continue to be, I know that she knows that she knows...and will be okay in time.

I often marvel when people say, "He died too young", or "She was taken before her time".  I don't believe that. God in His wisdom decided long before anything "was" when we would enter this life and when (and how) we would exit.  We might not agree with it or understand the circumstances, but He is the author and finisher of life. Period. I grieve tonight for my co-worker, for the family of staff that are also mourning the loss of this wonderful man, and for those he left behind.  But I sit here sure in His orchestration of it all...I'm sure some today are seeing only the bitter...my prayer is that they find the sweet.