Embrace

Last night I attended the visitation service of a friend who just passed away from pancreatic cancer, 30 years old.

I was struck by something I saw while I was there.

His 25 year old widow in the embrace of a sister in Christ, who herself recently became a widow in her 70s.

I didn’t hear their words to each other but I watched their embrace and it spoke abundantly.

Of comfort, understanding, love, friendship, hope, presence, and sorrow.

Sometimes I find that a touch or an embrace can speak words to another that our lips never could. Our touches reach people in places our words never could.

The power of an embrace brought tears to my eyes as I watched two women embrace in understanding of each other’s terrible circumstances.  Here are two women from different generations and backgrounds and seasons in life yet linked by a common understanding. The power of that linkage gave them ability to speak into each other’s lives without saying a word.

There is power in your touch. Sometimes words are not necessary.