"I will not leave you comfortless...."

I've been to the mountain top.....to retrieve College Boy. This morning, I had plans to blog about my Christmas Tree tonight....so many ornaments with so much sentimental value. And then my friend's phone pinged (A great friend, she drove me to the Mountain - because she knows how anxiety provoking highway driving is to me....),once, twice, three times in a row - alerting her to a news flash. This is how we discovered that a tragedy was unfolding in Connecticut. And now, once again, death is on my mind. The death of those whose lives were just beginning, the death of their family's hopes and dreams for those lives, the death of that community's sense of security. A couple of hours ago, I stood at my kitchen counter, cutting up chicken and onions and garlic - preparations for the Chicken and Dumpling Soup we were to have for supper. (As always, it hit the spot - comfort food at it's best) The house phone rang, and Baby Girl answered and held it to my ear for the shoulder hold (My hands were covered in raw chicken). My Brother was on the other end, and for the second time in less than three weeks, my mind could not wrap itself around the words coming out of his mouth...it would seem that my nephew will live on, because his Beautiful Widow has discovered that she is pregnant....tears coursed down my cheeks as I tried to picture the child of these two loved ones. Tears of sadness, because Chuck would have been the best Father...Tears of happiness, because a part of Chuck remains for us - for his parents, for his wife - for those that loved him. As I hung up the phone, John 14:18 came to my mind - "For I will not leave you comfortless...." As I sat with my family - all five of us - snug in the den, eating our soup by the light of the Christmas Tree, I marveled that a human could feel so many things at once - happy, sad, relieved, complete, distraught, angry, joyful, exhausted - my belly was so full of emotion, that it left very little room for supper....Comfort however, like dessert or cheese straws can always find biding room in a person, no matter how full (Of supper or conflicting emotions), if you only open yourself to the possibility. In the midst of this crazy day, my Brothers phone call brought unexpected comfort.Tonight, for my friends of faith, I pray that you will call upon the promise of John 14:18....For my friends who profess no faith I pray that you will surround yourselves with loved ones as day ends, and take comfort in their presence....For those families whose arms are empty at this moment, who lost their beloved children to senseless violence in a little school in a little town (That could just as easily have been your town, or my town) I pray that you feel the cosmic outpouring of love and prayers from a world full of people that you have never met - I pray that you find some measure of comfort in the hard days to come. Tonight I give thanks for the three heads snuggled under blankets watching TV in a room glowing with Christmas - Brother and Sisters together again - safe in this moment....for the risen sourdough, waiting to be made into loaves for the weekend...for my Husband, baking cookies for the neighbors...Thankful for the coats waiting to warm us, as we go out to look for meteors...for a young woman carrying new life....for the hope of Comfort, when all seems lost....thankful for all of you - my friends....a comfort indeed.