William is a sweet little goat who recently traveled the Seine River with a group of adventurers. I was blessed to meet William one afternoon after spotting him peeking out of his friend Duncan’s backpack as we hiked cliffs and visited cathedrals. I noticed that Duncan, who otherwise was traveling alone, would remove William and seat him at the table for cheese and macaron tastings, etc. and to be perfectly honest, I initially found it a little “different.” But I quickly realized that William must have an amazing back story, so I boldly approached Duncan to gently inquire about William. I had a feeling that grief was involved.

As it turned out, William was the constant companion of Duncan’s wife Denise when she went through cancer treatments. He bravely attended every chemotherapy session, was in the bed with her after every surgery, and listened attentively at every doctor’s appointment. Denise’s best friend had given William to her as a gift and William proved to be faithful, reliable, and always cheerful.

When Denise passed away, Duncan and William stayed home for a few years until they realized that Denise would have liked to see the Seine River, so off they adventured together. Duncan showed me the camera roll of pictures he had taken of William to show his daughter and the friend who gifted William to Denise. My favorite was a series of three images taken at the sunny hillside apple orchard where we had sampled cider. The first showed William contentedly sipping the first cider, the one with the smallest alcohol content. The next showed William slightly off-kilter as he sipped the more alcoholic one. The third showed William face-planted into the glass that contained the high alcohol content cider that tasted like flavored kerosene when I sipped mine. As you can see, Duncan was enjoying his role as William’s travel log scribe!

I noticed on our small riverboat that as soon as William’s story was shared, Duncan was never alone at meals or on the bus again. Nobody could resist William’s charm. Or Duncan’s, for that matter.

Everybody handles grief differently. That’s the thing about grief: There is no one way to work through it. Nobody hands you a step-by-step manual when your wife dies. Nobody can describe every milestone of recovery and hand you a chart to check your own progress. It is exhausting, numbing, debilitating, and necessary. We all go through it at our own pace, and the smart ones go through it with the support and comfort of family, friends, support groups, and churches. Or a little stuffed goat who loves to travel and make friends.

Matthew 5:4 (New Revised Standard Version)

⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

I have grieved in my lifetime and know I will grieve again. But watching Duncan and William negotiate their grief together gave me encouragement. Jesus assures us that we will be comforted as we grieve and gives us the promise of his presence. In John 14 he reminds us that he will never leave us orphaned but will return to fetch us in due time. To me, that is the greatest comfort of all.

Are you grieving today? I wish you moments of soft reflection, the hint of break-through joy, and the companionship of a stuffed goat to soothe you along the way.

Macarons? Oui, oui!