Letter: The Words on the Wall, The Heart in the Window

By David and Charlotte Anderson

The sign said “Exit.” The words on the wall below it spoke of God’s faithfulness.

As we exited the church, tears were in abundance.

It was the conclusion of another class on grief, folks who had gathered united by sorrow.

Is God faithful when we have experienced loss, our world is shaken, our dreams shattered, our loved ones having left – having ‘made their exit’ – even as we leave, make our own exit, into a world without them?

“Look!” my wife exclaimed. “There’s a heart in the window.”

The sun had set, the lights of homes on the far side of the lake twinkled as the darkness of night drew on, and the flowers of the bouquet on the sill of the window struggled still to shine, their beauty however fading as all blossoms do.

But there at the top were two leaves joined so closely together as to form the shape of a heart, by the slenderest of stalks somehow still attached.

I suppose, as symbols of God’s faithfulness go, the leaves were, after all, just leaves, and yet they were a reminder too – especially to the two of us who have both lost our spouses after long marriages, but had found one another – that yes, God is faithful.