Beauty Will Rise

(The flag at Stafford High School has flown at half mast this week in Melody's honor.)

Today is Melody's memorial service.

Last night, I was in the kitchen working and listening to music.

I'm helping with food and with serving the church's dinner to the family at noon. And then I'm providing a couple of salads as my Beta Sigma Phi group shares supper with the family.

It's a practical way to deal with grief.

When there are no words, you "do."

You look through recipe books. You stir together ingredients.

And then you realize it's not really about the food.

It's about loving the family and serving them.

While I worked, I listened to Steve Curtis Chapman's "Beauty Will Rise." It is a powerful CD. He wrote it after his daughter, Maria, died in an accident. She died only 10 days after her 5th birthday. The Chapman family was only hours away from hosting a high school graduation party for their son Caleb when the accident occurred.

There are so many correlations. Melody had celebrated her 17th birthday only two days before her death. She was looking forward to going to a prom at another high school, only a week after Stafford High School's prom. They were both taken from this world too soon by our human standards.

The whole album,"Beauty Will Rise," is raw emotion. I got shivers as I listened to the words and music sung by this faithful father who suffered such a loss. He put together this album to work through his own grief. And, in the process, he speaks for others who are mourning and searching for answers.



In his album notes, Chapman says: "Beauty Will Rise is one of the declaration songs that I wrote on one of those days when I desperately needed to say/sing again what God has promised ... that as our Redeemer, He will bring beauty and 'good' out of what appears so terribly wrong at the moment."

I also love the song, "See" from the album. What a beautiful message of hope! (I recommend the whole album. I've bought two of them already, one to give as a gift.)



Music tells the story of our lives. It reflects the joy and pain, the triumphs and tragedies, the times of peace and the storms of turmoil.

It speaks to us on days like today when the rain showers that are forecast almost seem appropriate - the tears of a community saying goodbye.