Daily Meditation

“Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing.” — Susan B. Anthony Grief changes our relationship with the world. After the loss of a child, reputation no longer matters the same way it … Read more

“I am a woman’s rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed.” — Sojourner Truth Grief strips away everything we once believed about strength. The loss of a child leaves us hollow, unsure we … Read more

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” — Theodore Roosevelt Grieving parents live in an arena few others can imagine. The world outside may judge, dismiss, or misunderstand the pain. Many people offer … Read more

“The stories of past courage can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this, each man must look into his own soul.” — John F. Kennedy Many grieving parents draw strength from the stories of others who have endured great loss. Those stories help us feel … Read more

“I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.” — Harriet Tubman Grief can feel like crossing a border you never meant to reach. Life after loss often resembles a foreign place. Many parents grieving … Read more

“Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them.”— Franklin D. Roosevelt Grieving parents often lose a sense of internal freedom. The right to feel joy, the right to feel safe, and the right to hope can feel stolen. The weight of … Read more

“No man can be truly free whose liberty is dependent upon the thought, feeling and action of others, and who has himself no means in his own hands for guarding, protecting, defending and maintaining that liberty.” — Frederick Douglass Grief can rob us of any sense of freedom. The loss of a child locks us … Read more

“The true woman will not be exponent of another, or allow another to be such for her. She will be her own individual self, do her own individual work.” — Susan B. Anthony Grief often leaves us feeling erased. The world may continue as if nothing happened, while everything inside us has changed. Parents who … Read more

“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!” — Sojourner Truth Grieving parents, especially mothers, often carry more than their own sorrow. Many mothers carry the weight … Read more

“In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares.” — Abraham Lincoln Grief does not send a warning. The moment of loss crashes through everything we thought we knew. The shock can feel unbearable. Many grieving parents carry the memory … Read more