Good things, hard things

Today my day was filled with good things. 

My dog, who hates to be brushed, allowed me to do a lot of grooming.

My daughter and my granddaughter spent the day hanging out with me, and my two grandsons joined us after school.

My son worked on the farm with Chuck today.

At break time and at lunch we enjoyed each other, sharing our thoughts and laughter along with our food.

This evening we enjoyed leftovers for supper and a long phone call from another daughter, and a brief phone call from another son.

Today we learned that a mother from our community is being deported. She and her family are making hard decisions, with no options that come without great pain. She is surrounded by prayer, and she knows she is loved. But she has to leave and be separated from loved ones indefinitely.

I don't know how to hold on well to gratitude for the ways things are going well for me, while being aware of how devastating things are for others. 

I am grateful for the relationships I enjoyed today. It is gratitude tempered by the reality of the depth of suffering in the life of another. There aren't really words for this. Only the prayers that are too deep for words.