what God takes away

Today in A Year with C.S. Lewis, he tells us about God taking things away from us.

What he says is that what God takes away with one hand, He gives back to us with the other. And it's true, that God often asks us to give one thing up, only to give us a much bigger blessing instead.

But the hard thing to realize sometimes is that this includes people. Sometimes God will take someone away from us, whether through growing apart, passing away, or moving to a new place, it's hard to say goodbye to people we care about. And even though we've seen it happen over and over throughout our lives, it's still hard to trust sometimes that He'll help us find others... new people to love and care about and grow attached to.

That's why it's important for us to open our hearts to one another, and to love each other. Because you're not the only one who has lost somebody... the other people in your life right now have lost people, too. They are His gift to you... and don't forget, you're also His gift to them. Sometimes the most important gift we can give someone... the best service we can perform for God... is to just BE there for someone who needs God's gift of your presence in their life.

God, help us to be present. Because being present to one another is Your present to each of us, here in the present.