Almost One Year Ago

In two days, a little girl in Memphis will turn 1 year old.  A year ago we thought she'd be in our home and we'd be celebrating this milestone with great fanfare.  Instead, we never got to meet her and our house is missing one.  It's been 363 days and not a single one of them has gone by without me thinking of this. 

In life, some things that seem impossible are all of a sudden right in front of our face, while some things that seem so real slip away without a trace.  I have not gone through nearly as much hardship as the figure Job in the Bible, but I find solidarity and take comfort in his words from very long ago:  "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."  Amen.