Reflection

Sometimes we need to step back from everything and reflect on our lives. As I’m sitting here at Strawberry Patch Park’s Children’s Memorial Garden, I felt I needed to do just that.

This garden is a work in progress. The City of Madison was gracious enough to share a piece of the park with us. In doing so, we will be able to come have a peaceful place to sit and remember our sorrows of losing a child, as well as remembering the hope we have that our kids will never be forgotten. It always does a mom’s heart good to know that people coming to the garden will see a child’s names on a brick surrounding the fountain and will forever be spoken out loud and silently.

As I speak all the names, I remember that our kids met Jesus in so many different ways. Car/motorcycle wreck, suicide, drowning, overdose, hit and run, medical issue, and others. No matter how they were taken, our hearts hurt the same. The hole that was left in our hearts will never be filled with anything else. The hurt is real, deep, and unbearable at times no matter how long it has been.

We also need to remember all the others affected by the death of a loved one or dear friend. Their hurt and pain are just as real and the confusion of why is really hard to tackle and comprehend. Many times, we search for answers to help us to understand. But most of the time, there just aren’t any until we see them again in Heaven. And by then, we won’t wonder why. We will just want to love and hug on them, rejoicing being reunited again.

Our Too Soon group met out here last week. It was a great meeting. We are reading Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen. It’s all about getting our negative thoughts out of our heads. It reminds us that those thoughts are from Satan, and believing them gives him the power, not God. It has helped me reflect on all the lies I believed about myself and how to overcome them. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Depression, mental illness, and anxiety are real factors in the lives of ourselves and others. I’ve said over and over again that we just need to be kind to anyone around us. That smile you give them may just be the one thing that keeps the darkness away one more day. Smile throughout the day. Take a walk. Enjoy the day anyway you can. Show compassion to yourself and others around you. Both are needed.

Everyone wears a mask, hiding something in their lives. For us to take it off, we have to trust a person enough to know that there will be no judgement, just lots of love and care shown. Then and only then will we take our mask off. When the mask is taken off, vulnerability sets in. Afterwards, doubt starts rising. We start asking ourselves, should I have said that or shown that? That is where trust comes in.

Trust is defined by Webster Marian Dictionary as “a: Assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something” and “b: One in which confidence is placed”. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trust). Im not sure how many people truly has someone like that in their lives. I try to be that person for the ones that let me in. I’m also very blessed to say that I have that with close friends and family members.

We all need to have real genuine talks with each other. Spend time thinking of ways you can be that person people can depend on and be that person for each other. Pray for God to give you clarity and peace on how to be that person.

It’s really ok to not be ok as long as you speak it and ask for help from a friend, counselor, doctor, or therapist. Please don’t ever forget that…YOU MATTER AND ARE SO VERY LOVED!!!!

Thanks for reading!!