The trail of breadcrumbs
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
– John 14:1-2
Recently, my family and I laid to rest my eldest and dearly beloved sister Misty.
As is the case with any death, no amount of preparation or forewarning can truly brace us for the heartache we must face. One of the greatest pains the grieving process brings is the sense of loneliness.
The one we love is so far removed from us, so quickly, and without a trace. As I’ve mourned Misty’s passing I’ve found my mind wandering, perhaps in search of some trace of her, to a story from her childhood.
I’d like to share that story with you, dear reader.
When my sisters Misty and Amy were still small children, Misty (the older) had the idea that the two of them should play Hansel and Gretel.
The game was simple. Just like the children’s story, they would go out into the woods with a loaf of bread, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way back home. Once they were very deep in the woods, Misty told Amy to close her eyes, she had a surprise for her; Misty then followed the breadcrumb trail back home, picking up every crumb as she went.
Amy was left in the woods, alone, with no trace of Misty or where she’d gone. Misty had been home, on the phone with her friends for some time before Mom realized what she’d done and made her go back and get Amy.
Death can leave us feeling like Amy, like our loved one has gone home, but we have nothing left of them here with us.
I’ve found comfort in the above story, because it reminds me that our loved ones do leave something behind. Countless memories of love and laughter shared with them that forever live on in our hearts and minds; a trail of breadcrumbs to our heavenly home, if you will.
Misty is gone from us now, but this time when she returned home she left a trail of loving memories for us to follow as we make our way back home.
If ever you find yourself missing a loved one passed, I hope following the trail of breadcrumbs they left in your heart will bring you the peace it has brought to me.