Dear Lord:

You have taken away my friend. I am here and he is gone. He was my confidant, my colleague, my hero, the one I looked up to, and aspired to be like. I could tell him anything. Although I craved his approval, I was not afraid to show him my soul. His death has left a space around me that nobody else can fill, even though I am blessed with other friends. His absence has created a silence that all the other voices of the world cannot fill. Now I am alone, and lost. I cannot bring him back to this world. I cannot change the unchangeable. I cannot and do not want to trade places. Lord, please comfort me and give me peace. I must go on. Help me to live so that my friend lives in me, so that his voice speaks to me, his counsel guides me, his love inspires me, and his example challenges me to live my own life to the utmost. May You also help me to be the kind of friend to another that he was to me, so that I may pass on to others what he has given to me. Then my friend will live in all of us who have shared his love.

Amen.

This prayer is from an attorney who mourns the loss of his friend, a colleague of many years. The expressions of loss are similar to many who feel emptiness in their lives when someone close and important to them passes away.