Humbled Beneath A Clear Blue Sky

The sun is shining and the sky is clear outside today, and a dear friend just informed me her grandmother passed yesterday. This is the first close loss my friend has had so she is feeling every ounce of it, every second of it, but is still dealing with it quite well. The old words of condolence I used to say I found myself unable to say to her, possibly because so much has happened in my own life that, well, I understood the words really didn't matter, but the actions did. So I volunteered to call our priest and tell him. Sometimes the little things really do mean more, and help more, than really big things. My friend is suffering and in shock, but the sky is clear and blue, and there is laughter in abundance.

It is always surprising when you discover you have grown. It is always a surprise to me to discover I am not exactly the same I have always been. It is really a surprise when I discover just how much words mean to me and I want to use them in the best way I can. That's how I noticed the change in myself: I didn't want to give my friend the old stale words and hope she would feel better. She is really grieving and the old stale words wouldn't have helped, just been there helping her to feel a little more lost, just perhaps not quite as alone. Now she is experiencing friendship and knows I won't, we won't, stand idly by and let her go through something painful alone. We are going to be there for her.

Sometimes growing makes you quite humble.