Sorrow's Choice

   The weeks leading up to this fourth anniversary of losing Tracy have been especially busy. Between that and return of winter weather, we hadn't made a plan for how to honor his memory. At my two presentations about him last week, the comments made by those who spoke to me on the way out made it clear that his story had touched lives. I sold a lot of books, mostly Lament, which is about losing him, and received personal responses about those as well. Learning how to publish Lament is the only reason I even thought about publishing my other books. But are those the spiritual fruit the Lord is bringing from Tracy's death?

    This anniversary fell on a Sunday, so we went to church of course and, since the weather was warm and sunny, visited the cemetery. Just before leaving the house, I remembered how early Easter is this year, so we brought the flower crosses to put by his gravestone. I tried to write a poem about the meaning of flowers on a cross, but didn't like the way it turned out, so I quickly wrote this one to go with the picture for my Facebook post.

 

 

 

                                                              

Sorrow's Choice  

 

Four years you've lived in heaven today.

I miss your strength, your smile, your voice,

but everyday I have a choice

to sit in sorrow that you're gone 

or seek the joy that lingers on.

I know which you would choose for me,

and so my heart waits patiently.  

 

 3/22/26