A collection for grieving hearts…..
#griefpoetry #loss #grief
A long collection of writings. Some shared with me when loved ones passed, others I just came across and appreciated them enough to share.
Disclaimer: This is a compilation of shared writings. Any and all copyrights belong to the original authors and are noted where known. I offer many blessings to those who have freely shared these writings for others to appreciate.
There is an association between dragonflies and the afterlife. Many believe that the sighting of dragonflies are messengers from beyond. The dragonfly goes through tremendous transformations from nymphs in the muddy pond to brilliant winged free creatures.
“Sometimes, crying is the only way your eyes speak when your mouth can’t explain how broken your heart is”. Varsha Sharma
Grief never ends… But it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. It is the price of love.
If you know someone who has lost a very important person in their life and you’re afraid to mention them because you think you may make them sad by reminding them that they died—you’re not reminding them, they didn’t forget. What you’re reminding them of is that you remembered that they lived. And that is a great, great gift.
“Death is not the end of life. It is merely the next step in the continuation of a soul’s journey. There is nothing to fear. There is love. And that love never goes away. You will never be alone. You will be accompanied by beloved friends. And you will know what to do. It only seems a mystery now, but it will all be clear”. From a guide through Dawn Hayman.
Everyone in your life will have a last day with you and you don’t even know when it will be. Live accordingly.
I believe the hardest part of healing after losing someone you love is, to recover the “you” that went away with them.
I thought of you with love today but that is nothing new.
I thought about you yesterday and days before that too,
I think of you in silence I often speak your name.
All I have are memories and your picture in a frame.
Your memory is my keepsake with which I’ll never part.
God has you in His keeping I have you in my heart.
In Memory of all those who left us too soon. You are always with us. We remember you in the morning, in the night, when we look at the stars, a special song, a place, a smell. You are always with us.
“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.”
― Jamie Anderson
I Heard Your Voice in the Wind
I heard your voice in the wind today
and I turned to see your face.
The warmth of the wind caressed me
as I silently stood in place.
I felt your touch in the sun today
as its warmth filled the sky.
I closed my eyes for your embrace
and my spirit soared high.
I saw your eyes in the window pane
as I watched the falling rain.
It seemed that, as each raindrop fell,
it quietly said your name.
I held you close in my heart today.
It made me feel complete.
Yes, you have died, but you are not gone.
You’re always a part of me.
As long as the sun keeps shining,
the rains fall, the winds blow,
you will live in me forever.
This is what my heart knows.
If Christmas is hard,
If you’ve lost someone dear.
Just look in your heart,
And you’ll know they’re still here.
The star in the sky,
The light falling snow.
The robin outside,
It seems like they know.
If this is a time,
When you’re struggling through.
Just do what you can,
For what matters, is you.
There’s no need to be merry,
There’s no need to be bright.
Just do what you can,
It will all be alright.
(Borrowed from a friend but had to share as it’s so lovely).
Sending big hugs to everyone that needs one right now
**poem was written by www.tootsdesign.co.uk
WHEN YOU HAVE LOST SOMEONE YOU LOVE
Do not make the mistake of living in sadness, or living small to honour their absence.
You owe it to them to live even more vividly than before.
If they could reach you, they would surely say..
“Take the love you had for me and turn it into gladness,
use the love you had for me to drive away the sadness.”
Love is an energy, so powerful, so all-consuming that when the person you felt all that love for is not here, you are a vessel filled with a boundless source of power that has nowhere to go.
Harness it.
Use it to burn even more brightly and live even more loudly than before.
Share the love you felt for that person with all the other special people in your life, for it is limitless. There is no end to it and there never, ever should be.
If they could reach you they would surely say…
“Make my time on earth count loudly, so I’ve not lived in vain.
Use the love we shared to make more love and not more pain.”
If you are struggling to move on, to find the way to carry on. Without them.
This is it.
Use the love.
Carry them with you in all that you do, using their love as the source.
It is what they would want.
Tell their stories, mention their name, feel their love – and share it.
Do not let the pain of their loss overshadow the love that they created whilst alive.
Make them count.
Remember, grief is the price you pay for a love divine. The stronger the love, the deeper the grief but love, love will always win in the end.
To The Women: words to live by Paperback – 26 Oct. 2020
by Donna Ashworth (Author)
′′ETERNAL CONSCIENCE, that is, each of us, does not conceive death as the end of everything, it only perceives it as a passage. Conscience is under stress in the face of incorrect information such as: you only live once, you risk eternal hell, when you die you lose everything. Death is an important passage, let’s learn to GO GENTLELY AND CONSCIOUSLY from one situation to another. THE JOURNEY CONTINUES.”-Giorgio Cerquetti
Claire Wineland: “Death is Inevitable. Living a life we can be proud of is something we can control.”
Live Your Life
So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about their religion;
respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life,
perfect your life,
beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
even a stranger, when in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people and grovel to none.
When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.
Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
When it comes your time to die,
be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
Chief Tecumseh 1768-1813
(From the Salvation Army when Larry passed)
MY FIRST CHRISTMAS IN HEAVEN
I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below
With tiny lights, like Heaven’s stars, reflecting on the snow.
The sight is so spectacular, please wipe away the tear
For I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear,
But the sounds of music can’t compare,
With the Christmas choir up here.
I have no words to tell you, the joy their voices bring,
For it is beyond description, to hear the angels sing.
I know how much you miss me; I see the pain inside your heart
But I am not so far away, we really aren’t apart.
So be happy for me, dear ones, you know I hold you dear
And be glad I’m spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
I sent you each a special gift, from my heavenly home above
I sent you each a memory of my undying love.
After all, love is a gift more precious than pure gold
It was always most important in the stories Jesus told.
Please love and keep each other, as my Father said to do
For I can’t count the blessings or love He has for each of you.
So have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear
Remember I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
(Author unknown)
This is a poem I found printed out in a frame at a garage sale. I love it because my grandmother had a wonderful analogy about life as a tapestry.
To grieve is to be an artist of life…
Finding our way through grief is a lot like making a tapestry. As we grieve, memories of the past – of our losses – are gradually being gathered up, reclaimed and woven into the present. Eventually a pattern emerges: a picture that shows the past and present have been rewoven.
To appreciate the art of tapestry is to look at it from both sides. The back of the tapestry can tell us about brokenness. There we can see where all kinds of broken threads were left dangling and where they were securely tied together again. When we study the front of our tapestry, we see something quite different. We see the bigger picture. We see the connections. We see the unique patterns and shapes of our life has created. We might see a wholeness – that there is beauty. That in grieving our losses we have become artists of life. ~ Donna O’Toole from Facing Change
— You Don’t Just Lose Someone Once —
You lose them over and over,
sometimes many times a day.
When the loss, momentarily forgotten,
creeps up,
and attacks you from behind.
Fresh waves of grief as the realization hits home,
they are gone.
Again.
You don’t just lose someone once,
you lose them every time you open your eyes to a new dawn,
and as you awaken,
so does your memory,
so does the jolting bolt of lightning that rips into your heart,
they are gone.
Again.
Losing someone is a journey,
not a one-off.
There is no end to the loss,
there is only a learned skill on how to stay afloat,
when it washes over.
Be kind to those who are sailing this stormy sea,
they have a journey ahead of them,
and a daily shock to the system each time they realize,
they are gone,
Again.
You don’t just lose someone once,
you lose them every day,
for a lifetime.
© Donna Ashworth Words
The day you left , you didn’t leave ,…
I see you all the time ,
On the street I hear your laugh ,oh wait , I think that’s mine .
I see you in my mirrors ,
I hear you when I speak ,
I wonder if you live in me ,
So our memories don’t go weak .
The feathers we all find ,
Are they falling from your wings ?
Are you leaving clues and messages ,
That every visit brings ?
The dragon , and butterfly’s,
I see them all the time ,
It makes me smile and realize ,
The day you left you didn’t leave ,
I see you all the time .
My love for you will never die ,
You are always part of me ..
when I feel sad and scream and cry for you ,
I know others feel it to .
God has taken you and given you wings,
to scatter here on earth ,
I hope you keep them coming …
it makes everything here more worth.
Every feather that I find ,
I’ll keep and pray that you ,
Will meet me at the gates that day,
You help us all walk through …
On the loss of a child:
The Far Side of the Rainbow
Dear Mom,
I know you have a hard time facing each day without me, struggling to make sense of my death. I see you cry before bed each night and when you wake every morning.
I see you sit in your car for hours at a time, shutting out the rest of the world, tears running down your cheeks as you listen to songs that remind you of me. I’m so sorry, Mom.
I’m sorry I had to leave so soon. I didn’t want to leave you, but please know that although you cannot see me, I am never far away.
Those chills you get when you are all alone, it’s me giving you a hug. I’m still here, Mom. I’m right here. Those beautiful rainbows that stop you in your tracks. It’s me saying hello. Those butterflies that flutter around you. The feathers you find in the most unlikely place laying there all alone. It’s me reminding you you’re not alone.
I hear you say goodnight to me as you drift to sleep each night. You can’t hear me, but I whisper “goodnight” back. I wish you could hear me whisper “I love you” everyday. I wish you could feel my hugs as I comfort you when you are down. I wish you could sense me as I gently kiss your cheek and wipe your tears every night as you fall asleep.
I know you miss me with every breath you take. That every joyful moment is also filled with sadness and what if’s along with the why’s and wonder. Wonder of what I would be like, what I would become. Wonder of who I’d be today. I wish you could see me now, Mom. I’m happy. I’m free.
Mom, I want you to know that I’m okay. I’m at peace now. I know it’s not easy to get through the days, but you keep on going, bringing me with you every step of the way. You keep my memory alive and you never stop saying my name. Thank you, Mom.
I watch you as you fight for my justice and you try to make some good come from all the tragedy my death left behind. I am proud of you Mom.
I know one of your biggest fears is that people will forget about me. That over time as the world goes on my time on earth will be forgotten. They haven’t forgotten, Mom. You keep my memory alive. You say my name and tell my story. I live on through you.
I’m so proud that you are my Mom. You are so brave, so kind, so loving. Although our time together was to short, you always took care of me. Protected me. Guided me. Loved me. You are such a good Mom.
Don’t question if I knew how much you loved me, I knew. I can still feel your love, it reaches me all the way in heaven.
I know there are days that you think you can’t keep going. Days that you can’t wait to join me, just so you can hold me and kiss me one more time. I know how much you long for that day, but please keep living, Mom. I want you to live, to smile, to feel joy. You don’t need to feel guilty when you’re happy. I like to see you smile. I love the sound of your laugh.
Please keep going. Keep carrying me with you in all that you do. I promise I’m here, Mom. I’m waiting here for you. I will always be with you, sending my love from heaven, until you can hold me again.
Don’t let go, Mom. I live on through you. I’m a part of you. I love you.
Stephin
This poem was shared with me by a dear friend (R.W.) who lost her son tragically. Only those who have lost a child would truly understand. I share it here because I have known too many friends who have buried their babies far too soon.
When you tell me how long its been
since your child’s death and you’re feeling so bad, I know.
When you worry that the pain in your heart will ever stop,I know.
When and anniversary is coming and you dread thinking about it, I know.
When you tell me your friends just don’t understand, I know.
I know because I have been there and I also know it will be easier someday ~
I know you’ll be able to share those happy memories ~
I know you’ll be able to reach out and help someone someday ~
And then you’ll say “I know”.
~ Therese Goodrich
*******************************************************************
What a fitting analogy of grief and loss.
I think this can apply to the loss of any close loved one.
“The best way I can describe grieving over a child as the years go by is to say it’s similar to carrying a stone in your pocket.
When you walk, the stone brushes against your skin. You feel it. You always feel it. But depending on the way you stand or the way your body moves, the smooth edges might barely graze your body.
Sometimes you lean the wrong way or you turn too quickly and a sharp edge pokes you. Your eyes water and you rub your wound but you have to keep going because not everyone knows about your stone or if they do, they don’t realize it can still bring this much pain.
There are days you are simply happy now, smiling comes easy and you laugh without thinking. You slap your leg during that laughter and you feel your stone and aren’t sure whether you should be laughing still. The stone still hurts.
Once in a while you can’t take your hand off that stone. You run it over your fingers and roll it in your palm and are so preoccupied by its weight, you forget things like your car keys and home address. You try to leave it alone but you just can’t. You want to take a nap but it’s been so many years since you’ve called in “sad” you’re not sure anyone would understand anymore or if they ever did.
But most days you can take your hand in and out of your pocket, feel your stone and even smile at its unwavering presence. You’ve accepted this stone as your own, crossing your hands over it, saying “mine” as children do.
You rest more peacefully than you once did, you’ve learned to move forward the best you can. Some days you want to show the world what a beautiful memory you’re holding. But most days you twirl it through your fingers, smile and look to the sky. You squeeze your hands together and hope you are living in a way that honors the missing piece you carry, until your arms are full again.” © Jessica Watson
Gorgeous piece written by Jessica Watson, Four Plus An Angel
______________________________________________________
IF YOU THINK GRIEF HAS A TIME LIMIT,
you have likely never lost a piece of your heart.
If you think that the days, months and years will somehow erase the extent of the loss, then you have never been unlucky enough to lose a love.
You are blessed, my friend.
For life without that piece of you, is a new life indeed.
It is a new world when the person you miss is no longer here.
Everything looks different and will never look the same again.
Every day is a mountain to climb, battling the waves of emotion, when a song plays, a smell reminds or a memory rears.
And that never lessens, we only become accustomed to handling it.
To hiding it.
You may think time is healing the hurt, then you enter a new phase of your life; a relationship, a child, a grandchild, a new opportunity, and you realise you cannot share that with your missing part.
The waves bear down fresh, as they were on the very the first day.
If you think grief has a time limit, my friend, you have never lost a piece of your heart.
And for that, you should be truly grateful.
Let the grieving grieve for as long as they must, and if you want to help, love them more.
Love is the only way.
Donna Ashworth
From ‘The Right Words’
#grief #loss #griefpoetry #lossofalovedone #wordsforheartache #grieving
WHO IS A GRIEVING MOTHER?
Does she look different from one who is not?
Is her pain visible in the smile she sometimes forces…
behind the eyes on the verge of tears?
Can you see the aging her body feels from the trauma of loss?
She’s one who still pictures herself from before the loss…
and is sometimes caught off guard at the reflection looking back from the mirror.
Who is a grieving mother?
She’s one who ignores a baby shower or birthday invitation one day,
because the pain is still too raw.
And the next, celebrates the small milestones,
for she knows how precious they are.
She’s one who boxes up a lifetime of mementos in an afternoon to spare others the pain.
Yet years later still can’t dredge up the courage to go through them again.
Who is a grieving mother?
She’s one who holds it together in the big things and falls apart over spilled milk.
Who loves deeply those closest to her, but keeps her heart guarded for protection from others.
She’s one who grimaces at the first laughs after loss,
but later laughs louder than most.
Who finds joy in the simple things and relishes every day moments.
Who is a grieving mother?
She’s one held hostage by dates on the calendar and unexpected triggers.
And one who will always pause for sunsets, butterflies, and sweet signs from above.
She’s one who lets go of friends unable to support her.
And one who treasures those who didn’t walk away.
Who is a grieving mother?
She’s one who can experience an array of emotions on any given day.
And one who wishes tears would come when numbness covers her.
She’s one who screams at God one moment and clings to him the next.
Who didn’t expect her faith to grow so much from the most important unanswered prayer she ever spoke.
Who is a grieving mother?
She is one as complicated as the grief she carries.
“Do not judge the Grieving Mother.
She comes in many forms.
She is breathing, but she is dying.
She may look young, but inside she has become ancient.
She smiles, but her heart sobs.
She walks, she talks, she cooks, she cleans, she works,
she IS but she IS NOT, all at once.
She is here, but part of her is elsewhere for eternity.”
~ Author Unknown ~
To Remember Me – I will live forever
Robert Noel Test
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don’t call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain.
Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil.
Give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
Robert N. Test
If I Knew
If I knew it would be the last time
I would be there to share your day,
well I’m sure you’ll have so many more
so I can let just this one slip away.
For surely there’s always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything right.
There will always be another day
to say our,” I love you’s,”
And certainly there’s another chance
to say our. ” Anything I can do’s?”
But just in case I might be wrong,
and today is all I get,
I’d like to say how much I love you
and I hope we never forget.
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.
So if you’re waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you’ll surely regret the day,
That you didn’t take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss *hug*
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.
So always hold them dear.
Take time to say I’m sorry,
Please forgive me,
Thank you, or It’s okay.
And if tomorrow never comes,
you’ll have no regrets about today.
Grief is a unique experience… each time… for each person.
Those we love don’t go away,
They walk beside us every day.
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed, and very dear.
Don’t Cry For Me
© Deborah Garcia Gaitan
Published: September 2015
Don’t cry for me.
I will be okay.
Heaven is my home now,
and this is where I’ll stay.
Don’t cry for me.
I’m where I belong.
I want you to be happy
and try to stay strong.
Don’t cry for me.
It was just my time,
but I will see you someday
on the other side.
Don’t cry for me.
I am not alone.
The angels are with me
to welcome me home.
Don’t cry for me,
for I have no fear.
All my pain is gone,
and Jesus took my tears.
Don’t cry for me.
This is not the end.
I’ll be waiting here for you
when we meet again
LOOK FOR ME IN RAINBOWS
Time for me to go now, I won’t say goodbye;
Look for me in rainbows, way up in the sky.
In the morning sunrise when all the world is new,
Just look for me and love me, as you know I loved you.
Time for me to leave you, I won’t say goodbye;
Look for me in rainbows, high up in the sky.
In the evening sunset, when all the world is through,
Just look for me and love me, and I’ll be close to you.
It won’t be forever, the day will come and then
My loving arms will hold you, when we meet again.
Time for us to part now, we won’t say goodbye;
Look for me in rainbows, shining in the sky.
Every waking moment, and all your whole life through
Just look for me and love me, as you know I loved you.
Just wish me to be near you,
And I’ll be there with you.
Music and lyrics: Conn Bernard (1990). Vicki Brown
I’M FREE
Don’t grieve for me for now I’m free,
I’m following the path God laid for me.
I took His hand when I heard Him call:
I turned my back and left it all.
I could not stay another day
To laugh, to love, to work or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way;
I found my place at the close of day.
If my parting has left a void
Then fill it with remembered joys.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,
Ah yes, these things I too shall miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow:
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life’s been full, I savoured much;
Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.
Perhaps my life seemed all too brief:
Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and share with me;
God wanted me now, He set me free.
Missing You Always
You never said I’m leaving
You never said goodbye,
You were gone before we knew it
And only God knows why.
A million times I needed you
A million times I cried,
If love alone could have saved you
You never would have died.
In life I loved you dearly
In death I love you still,
In my heart I hold a place
That only you can fill.
It broke my heart to lose you
But you didn’t go alone,
As part of me went with you
The day God took you home.
“Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!”
― Henry Scott Holland, Death is Nothing at All
**************************************************
Nick Cave’s response to a fan about the death of his son is just extraordinary
Dear Cynthia
It seems to me, that if we love, we grieve
That’s the deal
That’s the pact
Grief and love are forever intertwined
Grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love
And, like love, grief is non-negotiable
There is a vastness to grief
That overwhelms our minuscule selves
We are tiny, trembling clusters of atoms
Subsumed within grief’s awesome presence
It occupies the core of our being
And extends through our fingers to the limits of the universe
Within that whirling gyre all manner of madnesses exist
Ghosts and spirits and dream visitations
And everything else that we, in our anguish, will into existence
These are precious gifts
That are as valid and as real as we need them to be
They are the spirit guides that lead us out of the darkness
I feel the presence of my son, all around
But he may not be there
I hear him talk to me, and parent me, guide me
Though he may not be there
He visits my wife in her sleep regularly
Speaks to her, comforts her
But he may not be there
Dread grief trails bright phantoms in its wake
These spirits are ideas, essentially
They are our stunned imaginations
Reawakening after the calamity
Like ideas, these spirits speak of possibility
Follow your ideas
Because on the other side of the idea
Is change and growth and redemption
Create your spirits
Call to them
Will them alive
Speak to them
It is their impossible and ghostly hands
That draw us back to the world from which we were jettisoned
Better now and unimaginably changed
Songwriters: Nicholas Cave
Letter to Cynthia lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
VALENTINE MESSAGE
I send this message to my child
Who no longer walks this plane,
A message filled with love
Yet also filled with pain.
My heart continues to skip a beat
When I ponder your early death
As I think of times we’ll never share
I must stop to catch my breath.
Valentine’s Day is for those who love
And for those who receive love, too
For a parent the perfect love in life
Is the love I’ve given you.
I’m thinking of you this day, my child,
With a sadness that is unspoken
As I mark another Valentine’s Day
With a heart that is forever broken.
By Annette Mennen Baldwin, In memory of my son, Todd Mennen, TCF, Katy, TX
An Eternal Memory… Until We Meet Again…
Those special memories of you
will always bring a smile
if only I could have you back
just for a while
Then we could sit and talk again
just like we used to do
You always meant so very much
and always will do too
The fact that you’re no longer here
will always cause me pain
but you’re forever in my heart
until we meet again
************************************************
Knowing What I Know About Heaven (Lyrics)
Guy Penrod
I bet the trumpets play and the angels sing
Every sweet refrain of amazing grace
And the Heaven’s hands opened up the gate
And the children dance when they saw Your face
As happy as they were to see You coming
I was just as sad to have to watch You go, go but
Knowing what I know about Heaven
Believing that you’re all the way home
Knowing that you’re somewhere better
Is all I need to let you go
I could hope that I could pray you’re back
But why on earth would I do that
When you’re somewhere, life and love never ends
Oh, knowing what I know about heaven
Where every single voice makes a joyful noise
How sweet the sound when the saints rejoice
To every broken heart and every wounded soul
New life begins on streets of gold
But every tear that’s raining here from my eyes
I know the sun is shining where you are
Oh, knowing what I know about Heaven
Believing that you’re all the way home
Knowing that you’re somewhere better
Is all I need to let you go
I could hope that I could pray you’re back
But why on earth would I do that
When you’re somewhere, life and love never ends
Oh, knowing what I know about Heaven
I could hope that I could pray you’re back
But why on earth would I do that
When you’re somewhere, life and love never ends
Oh, knowing what I know about Heaven
*********************************
DADDY’S EMPTY CHAIR
A man’s daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father. When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed. The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. “I guess you were expecting me, he said. “No, who are you?” said the father. The minister told him his name and then remarked, “I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up.” “Oh yeah, the chair,” said the bedridden man. “Would you mind closing the door?” Puzzled, the minister shut the door. “I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man. “But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head.” I abandoned any attempt at prayer,” the old man continued, ” until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, “Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest. “Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It’s not spooky because he promised, ‘I will be with you always’. “Then just speak to him in the same way you’re doing with me right now.” “So, I tried it and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I’m careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.” The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church. Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon. Did he die in peace?” he asked. Yes, when I left the house about two o’clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him . But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?” The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, “I wish we could all go like that.”
********************************
IF TOMORROW STARTS WITHOUT ME by David Romano
If tomorrow starts without me,
And I’m not there to see,
If the sun should rise and find your eyes
All filled with tears for me;
I wish so much you wouldn’t cry
The way you did today,
While thinking of the many things,
We didn’t get to say.
I know how much you love me,
As much as I love you,
And each time that you think of me,
I know you’ll miss me too;
But when tomorrow starts without me,
Please try to understand,
That an angel came and called my name,
And took me by the hand,
And said my place was ready,
In heaven far above,
And that I’d have to leave behind
All those I dearly love.
But as I turned to walk away,
A tear fell from my eye,
For all my life, I’d always thought,
I didn’t want to die.
I had so much to live for,
So much left yet to do,
It seemed almost impossible,
That I was leaving you.
I thought of all the yesterdays,
The good ones and the bad,
I thought of all that we shared,
And all the fun we had.
If I could relive yesterday,
Just even for a while,
I’d say good-bye and kiss you
And maybe see you smile.
But then I fully realized,
That this could never be,
For emptiness and memories,
Would take the place of me.
And when I thought of worldly things,
I might miss some tomorrow,
I thought of you, and when I did,
My heart was filled with sorrow.
But when I walked through heaven’s gates,
I felt so much at home.
When God looked down and smiled at me,
From His great golden throne,
He said, “This is eternity,
And all I’ve promised you.”
Today your life on earth is past,
But here life starts anew.
I promise no tomorrow,
But today will always last,
And since each day is the same way,
There’s no longing for the past.
So when tomorrow starts without me,
Don’t think we’re far apart,
For every time you think of me,
I’m right here, in your heart “
A PARENT’S WORST NIGHTMARE ……..
Losing a child and having to bury them. A man lost his son and couldn’t bare the thought of living without him. He was suffering and couldn’t believe his son was gone. He cried and cried every day and night, missing his son, wishing things were different.
He couldn’t sleep and hadn’t slept in a long time. One night an old medicine man came to him in a dream and told him “Enough!! That’s enough crying!!” The dad told him “I cannot stop, I am never going to see him again!” The old Medicine man said, “Do you want to see him again?” The dad says “yes of course” the old medicine man takes him to the entrance of happy hunting ground where he sees many little beautiful children, so happy and innocent, carrying eagle feathers into the happy hunting grounds, smiling and laughing and just so beautiful. The dad asks “where is my son? Who are these kids?” The old medicine man said “these are the children that are called home early, they are innocent and loved and they go right through to the happy hunting grounds, so happy” the dad says “and my son? Where is he? Why isn’t he with these children?” The old medicine man said, “come this way” and guided him to the side of entrance. A small boy with a beautiful smile was standing there watching all the children enter the happy hunting grounds. He was standing there within reach of an eagle’s feather. His dad grabbed him and hugged him, and the boy kissed his dads’ cheeks and told him he missed him. The dad said “why don’t you have a eagle’s feather like the other kids? Why are you waiting here at the entrance?”
The boy said “I keep trying to get the eagle feather Daddy, but your tears pull it out of reach. I see you are so sad, and I am tied to that feeling so I wait here until you’re ok” the dad burst out crying for the last time, he told his son, “Get that eagle feather and go, I will be ok, and I know you will be too”
– Don’t cry too long for that loved one you lost, whether son, daughter, husband, mother or father!! Let them rest in peace, don’t torment your life, because they won’t come back, have faith that you will be together again, and that Creator makes us a beautiful home with all our loved ones when we leave this world.
When you die, don’t worry about your body… your loved ones will do whatever it takes according to their means.
They will undress you,
Y’all going to get washed up
They will dress you up
They will get you out of your house and drive you to your new address.
Many will come to your funeral to say goodbye. Some will cancel appointments and even miss their job to attend your funeral.
Your property, whatever you like, will be borrowed, sold, offered or burned.
Your keys
Your tools
Your free
Your CDs
Your shoes
Your clothes…
And be sure that the world will not stop crying for you.
Everything will continue.
In your work you will be replaced. Someone with the same or better skills will take your place.
Your good will go to your heirs…
And don’t doubt that you will continue to be quoted, judged and criticized for the small and big things you have done in life.
Your sincere friends will cry for a few hours or days, but then they will return to their daily routine.
The “friends” who challenge you, will forget you sooner.
Your pets will get used to the new owner.
Your photos will either hang on the wall or stay on a furniture for a while, but then they will be stacked at the bottom of a drawer.
Someone else will sit on your couch and eat at your table.
The deep pain in your house will last a week, two, one month, two, one year, two… Then you will be added to the memories and then your story will end.
She will be finished for yours, finished here, finished in this world.
But start your story in your new reality… your life after death.
Your life where you won’t be able to move with things from here because in addition, they will have lost the value they had.
Body
Beauty
Appearance
Family name
Comfort
Credit
Status
Position
Bank account
Home
Car
Profession
Titles
Graduates
Medals
Trophies
Friends
Places
Together
Family…
In your new life, you will only need what you have built in spiritual life.
And that value you will have worked here will be the only fortune that will count there.
This fortune is the only one you will carry and not the one you will have accumulated while you will have lived here.
When you live a life of love for others and at peace with others, you are sharing your spiritual wealth.
That’s why try to live to the fullest and be happy while you are here because from here you won’t take what you have.
You will only take what you have given. ❤
Alexander Jodorowski
Native American Culture Regions
A PARENT’S WORST NIGHTMARE ……..
Losing a child and having to bury them. A man lost his son and couldn’t bare the thought of living without him. He was suffering and couldn’t believe his son was gone. He cried and cried every day and night, missing his son, wishing things were different.
He couldn’t sleep and hadn’t slept in a long time. One night an old medicine man came to him in a dream and told him “Enough!! That’s enough crying!!” The dad told him “I cannot stop, I am never going to see him again!” The old Medicine man said, “Do you want to see him again?” The dad says “yes of course” the old medicine man takes him to the entrance of happy hunting ground where he sees many little beautiful children, so happy and innocent, carrying eagle feathers into the happy hunting grounds, smiling and laughing and just so beautiful. The dad asks “where is my son? Who are these kids?” The old medicine man said “these are the children that are called home early, they are innocent and loved and they go right through to the happy hunting grounds, so happy” the dad says “and my son? Where is he? Why isn’t he with these children?” The old medicine man said, “come this way” and guided him to the side of entrance. A small boy with a beautiful smile was standing there watching all the children enter the happy hunting grounds. He was standing there within reach of an eagle’s feather. His dad grabbed him and hugged him, and the boy kissed his dads’ cheeks and told him he missed him. The dad said “why don’t you have a eagle’s feather like the other kids? Why are you waiting here at the entrance?”
The boy said “I keep trying to get the eagle feather Daddy, but your tears pull it out of reach. I see you are so sad, and I am tied to that feeling so I wait here until you’re ok” the dad burst out crying for the last time, he told his son, “Get that eagle feather and go, I will be ok, and I know you will be too”
Don’t cry too long for that loved one you lost, whether son, daughter, husband, mother or father!! Let them rest in peace, don’t torment your life, because they won’t come back, have faith that you will be together again, and that Creator makes us a beautiful home with all our loved ones when we leave this world.
A poem called “Live Your Life,” made popular in the movie Act of Valor.
“So, live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, and beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none.
When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
When it comes time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes, they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and go like a hero going home.”