My wife's mother died from cancer when she was only 52. Susan was 29.

Every Mother's Day for the past 38 years my wife remembers her mother with great love but also sadness for a loss that is beyond measure. Our daughter Angie, named for her grandmother, never met Angela. Susan did not have the opportunities to get her mother's advice as our kids were growing up, celebrate birthdays or other milestones, send pictures and share events of every week. There were no phone calls to check-in or hear affirmation, encouragement and love expressed.  Her Mother's words were of immeasurable value for Susan for the brief time Susan heard them.

In our living room is a picture frame that electronically produces a slide show of meaningful family pictures. Occasionally it freezes--gets stuck on one picture. You guessed it. This picture of Susan and her mom, shortly before her illness, became frozen on our picture frame the week of Mother's Day.

Was that just a coincidence?

Before I was a Hospice Chaplain and similar things happened, I assumed that grieving people were just grasping at anything that could bring meaning or make them feel better. But I observed too many coincidences for them to be just a coincidence. I don't know what they mean, but it seems they are a tangible reminder that God hasn't forgotten the mother that has died nor the child that is grieving. He is drawing close to be a comfort.

Earlier this morning I was walking out of the neighborhood grocery store. A friendly worker and I often greet and joke around. I said to him with a chuckle, "Happy Mother's Day." He teased back, as I was heading for the exit, "Same to you."

Then he followed me, got close and in a low serious voice said, "I had one until two weeks ago."

For just a minute we talked about her illness and suffering. I asked how he was doing and tried express care for his sad feelings, but as quickly as he walked up to me, he walked away. I think he was trying to get a grip on his emotions before he would be taken over by them.

We need to make the most of coincidences and tender moments, especially on Mother's Day.

When you care for people by asking them to tell you a little about their Mom, you will be part of God's love to comfort and care for those grieving and you will make an immeasurable difference.

The happy celebrations of Mother's Day with breakfast in bed, or a meal out, a homemade card with a child's scribbles, and a gift of something that Mom has been asking for are priceless treasures worth remembering and saving for a life time. And we cannot forget flowers to plant now that Spring has finally arrived. They will produce color all summer and the memory of one more way Mom made life more beautiful.

So, when those things have passed and the one who produced them is no longer with us it is also appropriate to find a way to remember her, miss her and grieve the whole in our life left by her absence.

A full and complete Care Ministry provides times throughout the year, not just at funerals, for people to experience the dark colored emotions. Mother's Day offers opportunities to mingle joy and sadness into a meaningful Sunday.

Well rounded people are not one dimensional, relating only on the happy and mundane. So, even at the grocery store, we should recognize the opportunity to listen to a person tell their story of love and loss.

Holidays, coincidences and grief matter.