Celtic, I'm glad your surgery went well and recovery is well on the way.

Glad you're being taken good care of.

Meredithbead, I sing in the Spirit also. Its like an offering to God. I think He stores/saves our tears also. What a beautiful way to express yourself and your innermost feelings. Songs are one of many ways of worship.

Celtic, when we sing the prayers, something wells up from our soul, more than just reading words on a page. Words are good too, when they're heartfelt, but singing connects us more to the rhythm of the universe.

Anno, ocean waves are part of that same rhythm. And Newleaf, the molecules from your tears evaporate and become part of the atmosphere, then later rain down over ocean and land.

That's a beautiful concept, Meredithbead. I like that. I'm so thankful for emotion. Anno, I've always been drawn to the ocean. When things in my life are going downhill, I find that communing with the ocean is soothing and healing to my spirit.

I've always been drawn to and preferred what I refer to as "things that are more powerful than me." ie. the ocean, mountains, geysers, deep natural springs, deserts, the Great Salt Lake. That's why I live in Florida on the coast, because I almost need the ocean to feel good, to feel comforted.

one gets negative ions from the sea....the negative ions has a calming and positive effect on our emotions...

but those greater than i things have a lovlie way of humbling us...not making us unimportant just humbled in the face of them..

I think that's it. People like me need to feel power greater than their personalities. It is humbling and stirs a deep reverence for nature's Creator.

When I lived in the heartland of the US, Nebraska, I owned a sound machine that I fell asleep to every night. It made the sound of ocean waves and tree frogs, rain, etc. I loved it.

Now I actually live near my ocean and can enjoy the waves anytime I want to. I'm really blessed.

Those of you who live near the beach are so very blessed. I am three hours away and would love to walk the beach in prayer every morning. Instead, I sit at my kitchen table and still feel blessed.

A famous saint once said that when we sing, we pray twice.

As I type now, I pray. As I shall do in all manner and form as I carry on with life tomorrow and the days ahead. My thoughts will be of my sister and her family, my niece and her husband most especially. My prayer intentions will be that they may find thanksgiving and peace despite the sadness which now dwells in my sister's household.

In the middle of my visit here tonight, I received a phone call from my sister who informed me that her only grandchild passed away today. Gabriel would have been 7 months old on the 12th April and was born with holosencephaly. We have been told from the day he was born that his life would be short. Holosencephaly alobar is a birth defect of severe physical imperfections and facial deformities. His very short life on earth taught us to be stronger people, to pray for our hearts to love unconditionally, to always find good in bad, to have faith when all seemed hopeless, to trust when all seemed lost but most of all, to perservere when the road well travelled became too exhausting. And for a time such as now, to find peace and gratitude. God blessed us with a very special child. My niece need only to look at a mirror to find the special mother and person Gabriel has helped her become. As she cared for her child, each task undertaken was a prayer in itself. She looked directly in his eyes despite his profound blindness and hummed him to sleep despite his profound deafness. What a blessed and gracious thing it is to be able to pray in that way.

Lola, what a beautiful way to remember a child! I am so sorry for your loss. I will add my prayers for your family.