Thankful for What You Had

"Who will be my role model, now that my role model is gone, gone..."

I heard those words from a song by Paul Simon while I was sitting in a sandwich shop waiting on my order.  To be honest, I had not been really listening to the music but the moment I heard those words playing I had a connection with them and a connection with a sense of grief.

Not long ago the man who had been my mentor for the past few years, Charles Price, past away.  When those words played I immediately thought of him.  The question did come to my mind, "Who will be my role model?"  Charles challenged me, encouraged me, taught me, mentored me but mainly Charles loved me in his own unique way.  I will miss him.  I am not sure what I will do now, but I am really grateful for the time I had.  I look back and see how precious it was now.

Recently, a mom I know, lost her second grown child; both were daughters and both died at age 42.  She shared how blessed she had been to have had them both for 42 years.  There are a lot of other ways to look at those losses.  Her ways is obviously the best and probably the most blessed.

We will grieve, there is no way around that.  The choice we have is how will we choose to think about what we have lost - grateful for what we had or grieving for what we no longer have.  I want to be in the first group.

To be able to do that, I need to be grateful now, even in the losses, thankful for what I had.

for the journey...

Tim