"As for God, I frankly admit that I find it easier to live with the age-old questions about suffering than with many of the easy or pious explanations offered from time to time. Some of which seem to verge on blasphemy."

"Life is sweet. Beyond the pain, life continues to be sweet. The basics are still there. Beauty, food, and friendship, reservoirs of love and understanding. Later, possibly not yet, you are going to need others who will encourage you to make new beginnings. Welcome them. They will help you move on, to cherish happy memories and confront the painful ones without bitterness or anger."

-From Winter Solstice, an absolutely delightful Rosamunde Pilcher novel that Julie D. gave me for Christmas. I couldn't put it down, not even during the exciting end/overtime of the Boise State-OU game the other night. The above quotes are spoken by Peter Kennedy, minister of a church in a small Scottish village, to Oscar Blundell, a man who has just lost his wife and child in a terrible car crash. The whole story is learning to love and live again after enduring great loss, and even to trust that God is still good, despite appearances to the contrary. This resonates particularly as I think about the Sheets family, and others I know (the Halberts; my own cousin Margaret; the Copes) who have lost children through the years. But I think these words can apply to any fresh start, including that of a new year. Beyond the pain of the old year, with all its mistakes and doubts and worries, life continues to be sweet. And we all need people who will help us make new beginnings. We must welcome them, and be glad for them.

I'm glad for all of you.