Missing the Morning By Mourning

A friend just stopped by to visit. Dressed in black she stepped into my foyer with a garumph and announced she was dressed in mourning because of the election. I sensed from her countenance that she was not trying to be comical and swallowed back the laugh tickling inside me. As she talked on I realized her pain was from more than just the election and was very grateful I hadn’t laughed. She was hurting, and I felt sorry for her.

But as she left I remembered the years when things like elections and daily problems and children and adversity sent me into mourning and was so grateful I’ve learned how to at least minimize the Unnecessary Pain of life even if I haven’t yet mastered escaping it all together. My heart broke for my friend because of the pain she is in, but the sadder fact is that she doesn’t need to be in pain. It is Unnecessary Pain. The sun is shining outside in the midst of a perfectly azure sky. Days don’t come more beautiful than this one, but full of black mourning my friend walked out my door totally unaware that the sun was shining on her.