a lesson on life and love

Life. Four letters. One syllable. This is supposed to be easy, isn't it? That word is so simple, but carries such a heavy meaning. A meaning we often take for granted. Life. What a blessing. 

Life isn't always fair. It hurts, it stings, and it brings us down to our knees. My good friend just lost his baby girl. She was stillborn. A perfect, beautiful little girl didn't get to breathe her first breath.

What pain and sadness. What frustration! What heart-ache. I am completely unable to fathom how this is possible. Her parents were good, they were ready to take that baby girl and raise her in a good home. But they left the hospital with an empty car seat and returned home alone. So many babies are born into families of poverty and abuse. Parents who don't want babies get to have them and parents who would give all they had for children, do home to an empty crib. 

As I looked at pictures of my friend carrying his baby girl's casket with his wife walking close, I can't help but ponder as to why these things happen. But then I read her blog and her testimony and her faith and her humility touch me so deeply. She posted this incredible quote:

"One’s life … cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free. …Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, ‘Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!’ …Real faith … is required to endure this necessary but painful developmental process." 

Neal A. Maxwell

My testimony has grown. May faith has strengthened. My heart is so full and I am so grateful for my friends their perfect angel baby that was sent to earth to receive a body then taken home to be with her Heavenly Father. She has taught me to love. To appreciate more. To trust more. To have more righteous desires. To rely on our Savior and His atonement. To remember life is special. I only hope that I can become worthy to enter the kingdom of my Father in Heaven. I hope I can strive each day to be worthy to be a mother in Zion.

This song is beautiful and really has spoken to me through this whole thing: