Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy

Over the past few months, we have experienced grief and loss in several capacities in my family. My Papaw, our sweet nephew Mills, and recently Robbie's Pawpaw. All three have been very different experiences of loss. And for some reason God has allowed us to be very up close (more than I ever have before) and intimate with all of these beautiful lives and their deaths here on earth. I still haven't figured out exactly what God is teaching me, but I know one jewel has something to do with this:

Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:23-26

I am reading a new book called "I Will Carry You" by Angie Smith. Her husband is the lead singer for Selah, and they lost their baby girl just a few hours after she was born, knowing that she was not well through the pregnancy and choosing to carry her life anyways. She is an amazing writer, but truly captivates me with her up close journey of loss and joy. It came to recommended (by my sister Rebekah of course - the book came out the week Mills died) and it has been a healing source in my own grieving.

Mills would have been born next week - on June 25. That's hard to believe since it seems a short eternity from now since that day in March he was born. Even though the thoughts that we "should" be celebrating his new life next week brings a whole new wave of grief, we can trust that Mills life was exactly the way it "should" be. God had other plans for his life and those 6 weeks of his earthly life were filled with purpose.