oh world – how I long to wrap my arms around you and hold you tight!  You are so full of beauty and so full of pain.  Neither can be contained in mortal minds nor hearts nor souls. Beauty so far beyond comprehension, the eye cannot fully register its wonder.  Pain, pouring out of every person – the cries of the wounded drowned out only by the cries of those whose precious ones have been taken from them – while the cries of the dead echo louder still . . .

I hear the cries of the mourners, loud and strident, rising and falling like the tides – from every continent, from every country, from every city,  the language of love and of loss sounds the same – the silent anguish deafening across the globe –

tears falling fast and furious, are not able to wash away the pain,  it is our tears that fill your oceans, oh world –  it is our pain that builds the walls that make a place for our pain to put down roots and take up residence – to grow unseen, protected, out of sight behind the walls – until the walls can no longer contain what has grown within – and they give way . . .

pain spilling out into the world, destroying everyone in its path, leaving again the mourners crying out –

oh world, I would comfort you and hold you tight and take your pain so far away, that memory could never find it, though she searched for infinite years.  I would sing over you a lullaby and write all your names upon My palms.  I will remember your sins no more but I will remember you forever.

I would shelter you under My wings even as I am preparing a place for you.  I would give My life for you, indeed I did – and I will come again to get you.  oh world – at once so beautiful and so sad  . . .  I hear the unceasing wailing of your mourners, I know the pain piercing every heart  . . .  I am collecting all your tears

“He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”  (Psalm 91:4)

“Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,”  (Isaiah 53:4)

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.  Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”  (Psalm 68:19-20)

“And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”  (1 Peter 5:10)

sincerely,       Grace Day