A sheriff’s department’s sweet gesture has touched hearts as a little girl returned to school following her father’s death.

Sadly, we will all go through situations that hurt and sting. Losing a loved one is and always will be a painful and heartbreaking time. It’s one of the deepest, darkest valleys any of us will go through in life. While the passing of time may lessen the sting a bit, their absence will forever be felt and noticed.

Going through such a situation will hurt no matter someone’s age or stage in life. But it would be especially heartbreaking and challenging for a child to experience death, to lose someone as close as a parent. How do you explain to a young child that they will not see their father or mother ever again on this side of heaven?

Whenever a family is grieving, often the best thing to do is to show them that you care and are thinking about and praying for them. A clip posted shows how one sheriff’s department showed up for a little girl who had recently lost her father to cancer.

As the child made her way to school in the morning, several department members lined up to warmly embrace her. According to the video, the young woman’s father, Gonzalo Galvez, was a “tactical medic deputy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.”

As the child hugged each deputy, she did so while she carried a framed photo of her late father.

But the line of hugs was not the only thing the department did to show the family that they were thinking of the family. The video shows the unit’s helicopter flying over the school as the family stands and waves at the aircraft.

Death is brutal, and it will always hurt when we lose a loved one. But showing someone in pain and grieving that you care and are thinking about them can go a long way in providing comfort. 

Ephesians 4:32 “And be kind to one another, full of pity, having forgiveness for one another, even as God in Christ had forgiveness for you.”