Quotes and Poems of Comfort

"Our faith develops out of the most difficult aspects of our existence, not the easiest."
~Eugene Peterson

"The only useful advice anyone ever gave me about coping with overwhelming grief is this:
Put your right foot in front of your left foot, then you left foot in front of your right foot, and continue moving forward until you return to the world of the living."
~Rabbi Eli Rubenstein

"When you are sorrowful,
look again into your heart,
and you shall see
that in truth
you are weeping for that which has been
your delight."
~Kahlil Giban
(Lebanese poet)

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
~Elizabeth Kubler Ross

"The brokenness of the world is on full display with the death of E.J. Has me crying out for Jesus, not only to comfort us, but to come and make all things new. We are ready, Lord. Make haste and save us from these tears!"
~Rev. Joseph Nader at his brother's memorial

Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower,
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day,
Nothing gold can stay"

The Bustle in a House
by Emily Dickinson

"The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth -
 The sweeping up the heart
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity."

If you're happy, then your page stays blank. There must be some friction for the words to catch fire. No suffering, no song.

"A tragedy is like a fault line. A life is split into a before and an after, and most of the time, the before was better."
~Kate Bowler

"I am sending a dove to heaven.
With a parcel on its wings.
Be careful when you open it,
It's full of beautiful things.
Inside are a million kisses,
Wrapped up in a million hugs.
To say how much I miss you,
And to send you all my love.
I hold you close within my heart
And there you will remain.
To walk with me throughout my life,
Until we meet again."
~Author Unknown

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
~ Psalm 147:3

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones. And when you have laboriously accomplished your daily tasks, go to sleep in peace. God is awake."
~ Victor Hugo

"Death is a date in the calendar, but grief is the calendar."
-John Pavlovitz


It's A Wonderful World
(sung by Mark Burrows at E.J.'s Memorial Service)

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

 

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

 

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you

 

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world