Loss

Have you ever thought, when something dreadful happens, a moment ago, things were not like this; let it be then, not now, anything but now?  And you try and try to remake then but you know you can't.  So you try to hold the moment quite still and not let it move on and show itself.

Mary Stewart

It is with humility that I write this post.  I have been acquainted enough with real grief to know that helpful platitudes are anything but helpful when you are in the midst of something truly awful.  (I am not interested in renewing or furthering my relationship with grief...in fact, I don't even want to be friends.)


There have been a few times over the past few years that the searing pain of loss has taken my breath away.  Whether loss of a dear loved one or loss of what you supposed to be true and good, loss is terrible.


What I'm grateful for comes well after the loss and it is the instructive nature of such experiences, coupled with an empathy that you suddenly possess.


Some things can never be understood unless we live them.  Then, after we've lived them, we can be a help to others.  We learn lessons that no one can take away from us and lessons that could not have been learned in any other way.  We also experience at times tender mercies in the midst of our grief that assure us that there is a God, that He is mindful of us and loves us.


For that I am grateful.