The Game of Life

Eight weeks and August has turned into September and October is just around the corner.  Friday was Russ and my 21st wedding anniversary.  It was also still the day 8 weeks ago that one telephone call changed the course of Lynda's life.  Today is the one year anniversary of our sweet little Kada-Joy coming to live with us.  A rescue dog that had never been loved or cared for;  now thriving and healthy.  It is still the day that Lynda passed between this world and the next at 6:27 A.M.  I am beginning to be able to look at the good things that have happened through the years and happen to fall on a Friday or a Saturday.

Actually Lynda's entrance into Paradise, our 21st wedding anniversary and yes, even the one year anniversary date of when we rescued a little black Fo-Tzu ( Toy Fox Terrier and Shih-Tzu mix)....are causes for celebration.  Even though we celebrate  Lynda's transformation, we still miss her.  Still wish I had her snuggled in bed with me.  Wish we could go for walks and feel her patting us on the back and clapping because she loved being outdoors.

With two months I have moved through  the stages of grief although doing so is not final.  Things can happen at any time that will plunge me back into a phase of grief that I thought I had struggled with sufficiently and completed it and moved on.  Reminds me of a game board where you get a card to take two spaces back.  Life just keeps on dealing the cards and some days you get to advance toward the finish....and some days you keep getting all of the cards that require you to go back and do that part again.

At the end of two months I am advancing toward the finish more than I'm having to take multiple steps back.  That is an accomplishment.  No, it's a blessing that God has allowed me to process the grief and when it became more than I could bear He put the game board away and just sat and held me until I could play again.  That's the way God's love and grace is.  His timing is perfect.  His grace is sufficient.  His love endures forever and ever and in THIS game we already know that we're going to win no matter how many extra grief cards satan throws at us.

Today I choose to celebrate the big things as well as the little things.  I choose to think of Lynda as the winner of life's game and celebrating an eternity of being with Jesus.