"The darker the night, the brighter the stars, 
The deeper the grief, the closer is God."

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Good Friday. A day for grieving and believing, 

A day of sadness mixed with anticipated joy, a day of promise, the promise of new life and hope for this world and the next. 

Today's Touchstone is arriving late today because the service that sends this was being updated last night when I wanted to put it in place for today.

While waiting for their work to complete, I reflected on Easter weeks over the years, especially Good Fridays. 
 

That led to remembering funerals and the calling hours before the service. 

Very often there were tears and laughter, sadness along with joy and hope. 

Always there were stories about the deceased, times they showed us their strengths, times they made us laugh, something they taught us by their example.

Today, I plan to get in the spirit of that, thinking about the wisdom left to me by my parents.
 

But mostly, I’ll be reflecting on what Jesus advised and demonstrated:

Love. Judge not. Don't worry. Have faith. Help one another.*

May we follow this.

With love,
Charlene

* Love one another: Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another... Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

Contribute to the needs of God’s people, and welcome strangers into your home.

THE ELEVENTH GIFT IS LOVE.

It will grow each time you give it away.
from The Twelve Gifts of Birth