If The Years Could Be Shared

"If only I could take 10 years from her and give them to my mum..."

That was the thought that pierced through my grief, 15 years ago, as I stood in a casket maker’s workshop. My mum had just passed...at only 60. 
It felt unfair. 
Too soon. 
Too sudden.

While waiting, my eyes landed on an obituary pasted on the wall...a woman who had lived to be 96.

I sighed and said aloud, “If only I could take 10 years from her and give them to my mum... everyone would have been happy. My mum would live to 70, and she would still reach 86. Which would have been fair for both of them”

The casket maker looked up and responded quietly:
“If it were possible for your mum to give 5 years of her life to mine… my mum would have lived to 45 and would have seen me get married.”

That moment silenced me. It softened something in me. It broke me, but in a healing way.
Gratitude became louder than grief.

And it taught me this:
Sometimes, what we see as “not enough” is someone else’s answered prayer.

What we call “incomplete” is the very thing someone else is begging God for.
That job. 
That spouse. 
That child. 
That house. 
That extra year. 
That breath.

We may not always get what we want,
but God never fails to give us what we need.

“Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” - Ephesians 5:20

Grief is real.
But so is gratitude.
And somehow, they can walk together.

#Gratitude #Perspective #FaithInGrief #ThankfulHeart #Ephesians520