It's hard to say goodbye

 

Last Tuesday we had to say goodbye to our little furry friend, Maui.  Actually, she was more than just a friend, she was family.  We invited her to come and live with us in April 19, 2012 when her previous “family” could no longer keep her.  We thought her name quite exotic until we learned that it was just a backward version of ‘meow’, but she wore it with pride anyway.

 Maui had us smiling from the very start.  She wanted to be with us, but didn’t necessarily want attention, she just wanted to be close.  She would follow us all over the house, back and forth down the hall, not really on our heels like a dog might be but when we would turn around to go back the way we had come, there she was.  We would tell her we were coming right back and she could just wait, but she rarely did.  I guess she didn’t want to miss anything important.

Maui took us through some really weird stages – like when for some reason she thought she shouldn’t touch the carpet and avoided it with her whole being for about a week. One day her food would be the best thing we had ever given her, and the next day she would turn up her nose at the "junk" we had served and strut away.  Maui would also come if we sang. It didn’t have to be good singing (and usually wasn’t), there was just something about the changing tones that she couldn’t resist. 

Then came the day her health started failing, we began cleaning up after her, taking trips to the vet, trying everything we could think of to make her well, then finally having to let her go.   Now that she is gone the house seems strangely quiet.  There’s no greeting at the door when we come home, no nudges to obtain scratches and pets, no little presence following us around. No need for water or food bowls, litter box or cat toys and they have all been picked up.  The strangest things will bring on memories and start the tears flowing – like when I cleaned out the litter box to put it away and found myself crying because I was wishing she were there to make it dirty again.

 
Life goes on, and we move on, and we hang onto the little memories.

Though pets are very special, there’s no comparison to losing a person whom you love.  Both Clarence and I have said goodbye to our parents, and many friends as well.  We know others who have lost a sibling, or a child, and I can’t even imagine how much that would hurt.  I know many of you who are reading this have also lost someone.  It can be very hard to enter back into the world and it seems life goes on without you.  So many things trigger memories and you hurt all over again.

Isn’t it wonderful to know our tears don’t go unnoticed?  Even if we hide them from the world, God knows about them and He cares.  Actually, God goes beyond caring, He understands.  Long before you and I were born God allowed His son to take on our sin and die for us.  It may be that there are no tears in Heaven now, but I think there might have been then.  If you are hurting today, tell God about it.  Let Him hold you in His arms while you weep, you might discover that His tears are mixed with yours.