• Hold in your hands a photo of your loved one who has died. Allow your thoughts and emotions to come forth as you look at this photo. Visualize God's kindness and care caressing and comforting you like a warm ray of sunshine on a cold, turbulent day. Rest awhile in the warmth of this enduring love as you grieve your great loss.
• Comforting One, inside of me there's a huge cavern of loneliness. I don't think my heart can be more empty than it is. Each part of my daily routine cries out with sorrow. Each day is an endless stretch of persistent grief. Teach me how to care for myself amid this pain. Grant me courage to do this as best I can, especially when I feel as though I will fall apart. May I be patient with my unwanted emotions and trust that one day my inner world will change.
• Each time grief rises up and presses against my heart, I will remember that I am held in the womb of God's compassion.
— Joyce Rupp in Now That You've Gone Home: Courage and Comfort for Times of Grief by Joyce Hutchison, Joyce Rupp