The Interlude

I don't speak to old friends much on the phone. No, instead we choose to keep in touch from afar through e-mail. I learn of pregnancies, births, changes in locations, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses, about successes and, unfortunately, deaths in this manner. Last night was one of those nights where I received such an e-mail.

A friend I grew up with, and who recently moved to the New England area, drafted a mass e-mail sharing of some heart breaking news. She explained that her dog, Lenny, was attacked and killed by another dog yesterday while outside to do "his business." She stated that it was quick, but he looked pretty bad. It broke my heart when I read, "Lenny was like my child. I'm not taking this well." My friend went on to request that no cards, e-mails or phone calls be made to her regarding the incident. However, she strongly asked for A LOT OF PRAYER. She closed by repeating that no cards or e-mails be sent and no phone calls made to her.

I was expecting company at any minute. My husband had invited a few people (which turned into many people) over for a LOST party (you know - the tv show). Knowing that I would soon have to be up on my feet and cheery, I fought back tears and put my head in my hands, then on my desk.

It seems weird to some, even ridiculous to mourn a pet so intensely. Perhaps that's because they've either never had a pet or they've never had one they love. I suppose that the reason this morbid bit of news affected me so is because I could feel her pain. I haven't lost a pet in such a horrific manner, but I, too, love my pets as if they were my children. I don't have children so all my affections are showered upon these two fur balls as if they were little people. I couldn't imagine some horrible creature (dog or stray cat) fiercly ending my furbaby's life and me not being able to do a darn thing about it. The thought of it turns my stomach.

It was still on my mind when I woke up this morning, while I ate breakfast and while I drove to my hair appointment. I prayed for my friend during the car ride and then later when I spent some quiet time with God. I wondered why such painful sorrow exists in the world. Why needless losses are suffered everyday. And as I pondered, I opened up my devotional book (Streams in the Desert) and a sentence caught my attention. It read, "The woe and the waste and the tears of life belong to the interlude and not to the finale." The interlude. Yes, for whatever reason that evil must exist on this earth, it is only for a short time. This is not the finale. Perhaps this doesn't lend much comfort to those that are hurting. But, to me, thoughts and meditations such as that, snippets of biblical wisdom were a great deal of comfort when I lost my brother last year to a very unneccesary accident. To know that this tremendous void will someday end, gave me a sense of peace in the midst of my pain.

I often wondered why God allows certain tragedies to happen, like a friend of mine who lost her baby in her fifth month of pregnancy. She had to give birth and hold her little guy in her arms. She then put him in a box to be cremated which now sits on her mantle at home. Why?

I have at least five friends that have experienced painful divorces; friends that are depressed, family members that are sick, those that want desperately to have a baby but can't. And why? Does God use our pain in some way to teach us? As my husband once tried to explain to me, "God did not do this 'to you', Sam. He allowed it to happen. And God uses those tragedies to grow us."

This is the interlude, not the finale.

It helps to know that whatever my loss, God knows my pain. He doesn't leave me in anguish. He reassures me that we're only passing through, and that He'll give us strength for the journey. I'm looking forward to the finale.