Life is full of ups and downs. It is full of disappointments and fulfilled expectations, and it is full of good times and hard times. It can be because we have lost a parent or we’ve been through a divorce. It can be having expectations for people you  care about only to come to the sad realization they don’t care for you. Life can be hard because of an illness and realizing the side effects of treatment make you a shadow of what you once were. It can be suddenly finding yourself hit in the face with  the fact all people die: Some will die with people at their death beds, who care for them, and some will die alone because nobody cares.

Whatever the reason, all of us will reach for what will give us comfort, understanding, and strength to carry our burdens so that life does not crush us in the difficult times.

Some of us search tirelessly for words to help us feel better or memories to sustain us in the hard times. We fill our heads with beauty to offset all the pain and hopelessness we feel.

If we are blessed, we will reach for people who are not afraid to touch us  and comfort us. People who  say the words we need to hear, and    give from the heart those things we need in order to feel whole again. They do this because they love us and trust us.

But for those of us who are not so blessed, we must rely on a God we cannot see, written words from others who have been where we have been, and seek comfort in flowers and all kinds of beauty, pictures that matter to us, and memories that remind us how we once lived. We do this because we are human and we need  something that will enable us to survive the life we are given.  Yu/stan/kema