Today is the second anniversary of a dear friend’s death. Ward was a pastor and a mentor to both my husband and me. On the first anniversary last year, members of his extended family stood next to the wisteria vine in the yard and offered prayers of gratitude and remembrance .This year his wife Joanne, one of his adult sons, and I sat around the kitchen table together and “prayed in color” in his memory. We drew and wrote words. For me it was a sweet way to honor his life and to share time together. The prayer drawings will spend the rest of the day surrounded by flowers on the table he built many years ago in his workshop.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4 NRSV)