Prayers for Principals

The blog this week is from the weekly note that I send to the parents of St. Pius X.  Every week this note contains important dates, events, and a short note from me. 

It certainly has been a difficult time for the communities of Park Tudor and Lawrence Township.  Please remember to keep both communities in your prayers as they deal with the trying times.  Death of friends, family members, and people that have special meaning in our lives is difficult. 

 

The loss of someone special often times leaves a feeling of sadness, or what we perceive to be a void in our life.  We wonder how things are going to be the same without them, or wonder what we are to do now.  A special tradition, the weekly calendar event you had planned, are now void of this special person.  What are we to do now?

 

When my father lost his wife, my mother, he lost the love of his life, his companion, and his bridge partner.  I truly thought he would never play the game of bridge, a game he was very good at, and loved almost as much as he loved my mother.  How was dad going to fill his life?  The way my father coped with the loss of his wife, was a true inspiration and great lesson for me.

 

You see, my father, through much grief and prayer, decided to honor my mother and continue to play bridge, even without his life-long bridge partner.  My father took time to teach his siblings, my mother’s siblings, his nieces and nephews, how to play this challenging game.  Not only that, but he chose my mother’s aunt, who lived in a nursing home, as his new  bridge partner.  He played bridge with my aunt Mary, every Tuesday evening, every week, for many years.

 

My father chose to honor my mother, an elementary teacher, by becoming a teacher and teaching what he knew so well.  He chose to continue to share his love for my mother, by continuing to take an active role in her family and doing what my mother would do, if she were still with us.  What he did not know is, that by his actions, he has taught me to cope with a loss, by remembering and honoring my mother in such a special way.

 

I ask that you keep the communities of Park Tudor and Lawrence Township in your prayers.  Pray for those who are affected by the loss of Susan Jordan and Matthew Miller.  Pray that God give them the strength to deal with the loss, and that He give those grieving the wisdom to remember both of them in that special way.  Pray that God give them ideas to honor them and fill the void left behind.  Park Tudor and Lawrence Township, you are in my prayers.