I was talking with a friend of mine last week and she said something that made me think.  She said that life is really all about loss.  It started in the Garden of Eden when sin entered into the world.  Adam and Eve lost their close fellowship with God.

We have been losing things ever since.

We have really lost my father-in-law.  He knows very little and is hardly functioning in a nursing home  now.  It is so sad.  I miss what he was.

My second son graduated last Saturday.  I will miss his impish grin and his insightful comments during our homeschool history discussions.  I will miss his presence as he enters a new phase of his life.  (I'm so proud of him; he is such a man now.)  I feel like I have lost him in some respects.  I have lost my baby.  There is no way around that one.

I am losing my youth.  With every day, I am reminded that I am entering another stage of my life, one with aches and pains, and limitations.

In small increments I am losing my hearing, sight and strength.  I have lost the ability to conceive and have a child. 

But....praise the Father in heaven I will never lose my relationship with the Creator of the Universe.  I am His and I am growing ever closer to the time I will be in His presence and enjoy Him forever.  The losses of this world are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us (to us) someday.  (Paraphrasing 2 Cor. 4)

The more we lose here on this earth, the more our hearts can draw close to the one Who never changes and Who will never leave us or forsake us. 

So loss is a blessing.  It is our invitation into the deep comforting arms of the Savior.