Sorrow

Today, unexpectedly, I received a phone call late afternoon from a woman asking if I preserved flowers. I immediately said that I did, and asked if she had a wedding bouquet.

And then, I felt the immediate sorrow of her response. She told me that she had funeral flowers from the death of her four-month old infant. All I could say in that moment, as I felt the grief hit me, was “I am so very sorry.”

She thanked me and we made arrangements for her to come to my studio tonight with the flowers and discuss things. She knew she needed to get them to me quickly.

This young couple was with me for about a half hour, and brought in all the flowers they had. We talked about what they might want me to do for them and for some family members. For me, it felt like one of those sacred times that I can use God’s giftings to me in a certain way, and whenever I am brought flowers of sorrow to preserve rather than flowers of joy, there is a significant change to how I handle that in every sense, business wise and personally.

I felt emotional listening and discussing and acknowledged periodically in moments, the grief and difficulty of this. I knew that many details could be discussed in a few weeks, and I just kept with the basics.

It was a sacred opportunity that God brought my way today, that I could listen to a few details about the situation and the family. When people suffer such unexpected trauma, they need as many ears as possible, even those of strangers.

As they left, she wanted to show me a photo of the baby on her phone, and I asked the name.

While it may feel a bit strange to write of this experience here, it was probably the most significant God-thing of my day, today, and worthy of some type of expression late this night.

Weep with those who weep…such sorrow.