Dear Lord,

My mother is gone, loving God. I am so grateful I was at her side as she breathed her last, her agony complete. She lived a full and complete life and all of us felt relieved, for a moment, when she finally slipped away to be at your side.
But now I am left with the sorrow and grief. My mother is gone. My mother who had been a part of my life for each day of it, is not here. I have such a sadness and it surprises me.
In her years of Alzheimer’s, it seemed as if she died a little each day. The differences were almost invisible, but real. She responded less, sang less, prayed less. She became unsteady on her feet, then she couldn’t walk, then she no longer spoke. Finally, her loving eyes gazed on me with no recognition.
Watching that decline was hard over the years and I grieved every time I saw her. I was letting her go with each visit as she slowly moved through the sacred “thin spaces” to be with us a little less each day, and as she drew a little closer to you each day.
Help me to rejoice with my mother in her new life of the resurrection. This is what her faith taught her and help that belief bring me comfort in my sorrow.”

Amen.