I’m sitting on my late Uncle’s front steps as I type this. Fingers lost and looking for just the right words to offer the aching hearts of his children and his wife. I mean, what do you say to someone’s whose whole world is now off-center? They’ve been sucker-punched by death and are left breathless. What words could possibly be enough or be just right? I have no idea. I have nothing. All I can offer is prayers. All I can do is weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn.

I wonder about their tomorrows, next months, next years. I wonder what I would do if I was the one knocked off balance by my father’s death? The poet, Marie Howe, wrote, this is what the living do. Weighty words for what we do when the piercing pain morphs into a dull, hollow ache. We move on, even when our movements feel calculated and lifeless. We inhale, exhale and then do it again. Every step, every look, every millisecond is purposeful and engineered until one day, we realize we’ve found our fluidity again – rather, our fluidity has found us.

The brevity of life demands love, calls for compassion, requires soft words and gentle touches. We don’t know what memory we share with someone will be our last. When our frustration seems to pull us to words that may one day birth regret, we have to fight our flesh and offer something different. We have to let our loved ones know just how loved they are. In preparing for the Day of Goodbye, I’ve seen family members that I haven’t seen in years. The sweetness of seeing cousins and their children is tinged with the regret that we haven’t kept in touch as we should have. I will hug a bit tighter and love a bit harder. I don’t want to ever again say that I didn’t express my love as I should have. If there is anyone I will miss, should they no longer be here, I will let them know now, while I can.

Let’s make the most of our moments. Like water through cupped hands, despite our best efforts, time escapes us so quickly.

To those who mourn today – may the peace of Christ seep deep into your spirit, even when you may not realize it.

Shari Grant is a Registered Nurse in South Florida, where she was raised in a (very!) Jamaican home. Some of the loves of her life are words (both reading and writing them) and missions work. She enjoys spending time with friends and family while living for a good laugh - one that makes her belly ache and her eyes water. Her bottom line goal in life is to make the Lord smile and maybe even serve Him up a chuckle from time to time, too.