How will it all end?


No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. –C. S. Lewis


It just seems to get deeper and deeper, doesn’t it? Every news cycle brings a new cause for grief: another shooting, more looting, fresh hot spots for that virus that keeps our lives out of whack. Every time we take a step forward, it seems something else pops up to remind us: we are not in control.

Nope. Never were. We just like to act that way.

We are a nation in grief over so many losses, and our grief has been so intense that the whole world is joining us as we weep in anger and anguish. We grieve lost freedoms. We grieve lost or delayed dreams for our children and grandchildren. We grieve the way things were before—or grieve that we let things be so wrong for so long.

Some days, it feels as if we will never recover. We want to strike out, to make someone else feel what we are feeling—except all our friends already have enough grieving of their own going on. How will we ever get through this???

Answer: As with the grief we feel after a loved one dies, things will never go back to the way they were before. Grief is an agent of change. The question is whether you will allow grief to eat away at your loving, hopeful spirit; or to form and transform you into a better, more compassionate person. 

You hold all the cards. You choose.


Monday Think for a few minutes about your church background (or lack thereof). How important is knowledge of Scripture to you? Psalm 19:7-10

Tuesday Meditate today on the idea of compassion. Do you consider yourself a compassionate person? Pray for a softer heart. Romans 10:10

Wednesday As you go about your living today, open your eyes. Look for people you might otherwise not see. If nothing else, offer a whisper of prayer. Deuteronomy 15:4

Thursday Take an honest look at your heart. What keeps you from doing more? Listen for excuse-making. If you passed someone as the Samaritan did, what would you do? Luke 10:25-37

Friday Do you remember a time when, like the Prodigal, you disappointed a parent or other significant adult in your life? Or perhaps you’ve been the one disappointed? Pray for reconciliation or forgiveness if necessary. Luke 15:11-32

Saturday As you pray today for yourself, offer yourself again as God’s hands in this world. Listen for opportunities, however small, to serve. Luke 21:1-4

Sunday There are strangers in our midst, people we may see every week and never greet. Greet someone you’ve never met—and do so with an open mind and heart. Matthew 25:34-40

You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it. –J. K. Rowling


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spiritual dehydration

  Inside myself is a place where I live all alone, and that is where I renew my springs that never dry up. –Pearl S. Buck   The past two years (at least) have been exhausting, haven’t they? We had a pandemic that physically left us anxious and afraid. Our churches, where we go for nourishment, were closed or online longer than we wanted—and even now, we are careful. Politically, we have been divided against one another, and those wounds are still bleeding in many cases. We need to take care of ourselves. And it’s never been more difficult. What to do? How do I make time in our busy schedules—for me ? The simple answer: Whatever it takes. Remember when we would fly to a vacation destination? How the flight attendant would remind us that if the cabin loses pressure, the oxygen masks would drop down out of the ceiling? And that before we offer to help anyone else, we need to have our own masks in place ? Good advice for life in general. Today: Pause. Take inventory ...
Read more

What are you waiting for?

  The waiting is the hardest part. –Tom Petty   We spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting for the coffee to finish dripping. Waiting for the light to turn green. Waiting for the next available agent. It’s inevitable, really. We cannot always be first, and if we aren’t first, we’ll have to wait. But I think the more important thing is to ask yourself: How am I at waiting? Do I find myself getting anxious and fidgety? Am I worrying about things not going the way I really need them to go? Is my attitude rubbing off on people around me? The best way to wait is not to worry where we are in line, or gripe about wasted time. The best way to wait—is to be right there , in the moment of waiting. The disciples waited in fear; we wait in hope. Why not use this waiting time to pray? Welcome God’s presence into your heart. Ask God to bring you into the moment. Inquire what God would ask of you in this moment . Thank God for wisdom, patience, humor. . . . Take a d-e...
Read more

Don't be afraid.

Living is a great deal more than simply not dying. It is carrying out a mission, committing oneself to fashion some meaning that will attain eternity. –Leonardo Boff When asked, “What are you afraid of?” we offer a myriad of answers: snakes, spiders, flying in an airplane. But when pressed, many people, believers and non-believers alike, will admit that the one thing they fear most, at the core of their being, is death. Most of us enjoy having control over our lives, and frankly, we have very little control over, or way of knowing, how or when our earthly journey will end. And we have even fewer concrete answers about what will happen next. We have the profession of our faith and the occasional “crossing-over” story—but. No wonder death is near the top of that list. But sometimes, as I look around, it seems like people are less fearful about dying—and more afraid of living. Really cutting loose and enjoying our time together as human beings privileged to live in God’s am...
Read more