Childhood Memories

Our daughter was six years old when we told her that the parents of her best friend were divorcing. Soon she began to cry. We tried to console her. I had no idea what to do. Eventually, I gathered her in my arms and walked outside into the warm night. I don’t remember what I said, if anything. In time, she rested her head on my shoulder, and we simply gazed at the bright moon.

I had forgotten that painful yet tender moment. But over 30 years later, my daughter became the foster parent of a child who would cry at night because he missed his mother. My daughter told me she tried to console the little boy but to no avail. Remembering her own childhood heartache, she held him and took him outside. Together, they looked at the moon as she tried to comfort the child. In time, the child’s sobbing subsided.

I think of those times in our lives when God touches us with love and grace in moments of hurt and uncertainty. Those memories bring comfort and peace as well as thanksgiving and humility that God would intervene in the life of a parent trying to comfort their child.

Prayer: Loving Father, thank you for being present in our lives always. Amen