When the universe takes something from your grasp, it’s not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence:

“The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you.”

Something good will happen to you today, something that you have been waiting to hear. Don’t allow yourself to break down. If you feel like you’ve reached the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

This was written in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Sometimes we just don’t understand. I was fascinated by the words of Rabbi Shaul Praver in an article in The New York Times here who tried to comfort Veronique Pozner who lost her son, Noah, in the massacre. The rabbi asked her if she remembered her 6-year-old self. She did. “When we become adults,” he said, “our 5- and 6-year-olds didn’t die with us; they’re contained within a larger vessel.”

Nothing is lost. Everything is contained within our universe, even if we can’t see it. Sometimes that is not much consolation.

All we can do is get through the next minute. And the minute after that.