Picking Up the Pieces

Some time ago my sister gave me a plaque that I have hanging here in my office. It reads: “I finally got it all together and forgot where I put it.”

When a child dies the devastation is unimaginable, meaning that no can fully imagine what it’s like for us. It is different for each of us; but we all share the reality that our lives will never be the same again.

We go on with our lives – and with our broken hearts. We take a day at a time; sometimes a moment at a time. In the early stages of our grief, we wonder if or how we can ever function. Will we ever be able to get it “all together” again?

Unfortunately, if that is our goal, it will be an elusive one, always beyond our reach. After losing our precious daughter, Crystal, we certainly have not put all the pieces back together because some pieces will always be missing.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again. 

We ask ourselves if life will ever be normal again. Yes, it will be. It will be normal, but not the same normal. It will be a new normal. It will be normal to grieve the loss of our child. It will be normal for our great loss to affect our lives immensely. It is not something we will ever get over. The broken pieces of our lives can never be put back together as they were. We will not wake up one morning in this life and everything will be back the way it was; but we can get through each day, each year. Our hearts can be mended.

When broken steel is welded it is stronger than before; and so too, with our broken hearts. I am able to do ministry to bereaved parents, not because I have got it all together and put all the pieces back in place. I can do this ministry because God can take my broken heart and mend and mold it anew, with welds of love, grace and compassion that makes it stronger than I ever could.

Be encouraged, “God is in all things working for our good.” He has blessings yet for you as He continues to provide healing and comfort to your broken heart, even though it has been shattered into many pieces.