giving comfort

Reader’s Digest has an article in it, this month, written by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. She is the daughter of Robert Kennedy, and if anyone knows about death and grief, she would.

She gives four things that one can do to give comfort to someone who is grieving the death of a loved one:
1.“Go to the funeral.” She says: “Death opens an enormous hole in the heart. A funeral service brings together those who can help fill that hole.”
2.“Call or write your friend when someone close to her or him has died.”
3.“Never say, ‘You will get over it.’ People rarely do.”
4.“Embrace the person who suffers. (The death of a loved one rips us apart, shakes us up, hurts terribly.)”
She goes further to say:
“Make it clear in the letter or phone call to your friend that she or he is wonderful. The outstretched arm, the warm embrace, the freshly baked cookies, or the fragrant flowers do not replace the life. Not by any means. But they do say to the grieving friend, ‘You are loved. You are cherished.’”

I will never forget the wonderful acts of love that we have been shown in the past five months. Just this past week, I was having a hard time, and I got out my “Kathy” box…it includes all the cards and letters I have gotten in the past months… the words and thoughts warmed my heart all over again.

It is good to feel loved and cherished.

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