Finding Meaning in Sorrow

I've been following the story all week of Rachel, a 9-year-old girl who was raising money for clean water in Africa instead of asking for birthday presents. Then an accident on Interstate 90 took her life. She had raised $220 before her death. At last count, she has raised $626,424. The story went viral, being tweeted by Matt Hasselbeck, the Seahawk's quarterback. Seattle Times picked up the story and it's gone as far as Australia, which I'm pretty sure is a far as you can get from Washington.
The story caught my attention in two ways. First of all, I have a tender heart towards people who lose loved ones. That alone was all it took for me to cry. But to see the way people have given to her cause (more than 18,000 individuals and groups), put it all in a different perspective. Although Rachel's family would never sacrifice their daughter to help Africans get clean water, it does give a glimmer of meaning, of hope, of a promise that if nothing else, some good will come of her tragic death.
This is something I struggled with regarding my own husband's death, almost 11 years ago. I wished desperately at the time for some way to attach meaning to his death. It took me three years to give up that song. The meaning that people tried to comfort me with only created anger - to tell me that so-and-so's husband went to the doctor because of Leo's death and found out that they needed to be on medication. That did not comfort me. I gave up searching for meaning and eventually learned just to lean on God and believe that His ways and plans surpass my understanding and to be okay with that.
And to be sure, my kids have a greater understanding of loss and grief and with it an unusual degree of compassion. If we can't find meaning in loss, we can at least do the best with it that we can.
If you would like to add to Rachel's clean water for Africa fund, here is the link: http://www.mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=16396.