Tag: grief

Categories
hope the real self

Hope. Here.

I think it is hope that lies at our hearts and hope that finally brings us all here.

Hope that in spite of all the devastating evidence to the contrary, the ground we stand on is holy ground because Christ walked here and walks here still.

Hope that we are known, each one of us, by name, and that out of the burning moments of our lives he will call us by our names to the lives he would have us live and the selves he would have us become.

Hope that into the secret grief and pain and bewilderment of each of us and of our world he will come at last to heal and to save.

Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “Hope”

Hope that we can become who we were meant to be – is there a higher hope?

The God of the universe offers it – is any hope more sure?

Grace and peace to you…

dw

Photo by dw

If you want to read more about hope and this blog, check these out:

Pages on Hope
About

Categories
Other Writings

I lost a friend

Today I learned that one of my dear blogging friends has passed. I don’t know of anyone who has written more eloquently and transparently about addiction, recovery, illness, and gratitude.

I will miss him, miss his gentle spirit coming through his writing, miss his responses to my posts, miss his encouraging words. I can’t imagine the loss his family feels. I’ve included a post on grief below – I hope if offers some comfort.

I’m trying to think of words to say how much I want you, each reader, to experience what I have through his writing. I can’t think of any grand way to say it…simple words will have to do: read his blog…really, I mean it. You won’t be sorry. I’ve added his last 10 posts to the sidebar of this post to get you started.

Robert, thank you for your friendship. I wish we could have met on this side, but I look forward to meeting you on the other. Grace and peace to you…

dw

man walking in rain with black umbrella Walking with grief

In Common

So many grieving
Damage recent and long past
Near and far away

dw
Copyright © 2018

For those of us who grieve, Andy Raine of the Northumbria Community has written,

“Do not hurry as you walk with grief; it does not help the journey. Walk slowly, pausing often: do not hurry as you walk with grief. Be not disturbed by memories that come unbidden. Swiftly forgive; and let Christ speak for you unspoken words. Unfinished conversation will be resolved in him. Be not disturbed. Be gentle with the one who walks with grief. If it is you, be gentle with yourself. Swiftly forgive; walk slowly, pausing often. Take time, be gentle as you walk with grief.”

Claiborne, Shane. Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (p. 471). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Photo by Craig Whitehead on Unsplash

Categories
Poetry

Over my shoulder

Over my shoulder, a glance of the eye
Catches Cancer crabbing across the sky
Devouring time and a fetus named John;

Time two brothers might have played, gone to school,
Become men, raised families, and grown old,
Always together, apart sixteen months,
James, now asleep, and his hoped for brother;

A fetus once kicking, its fingers formed,
Its days twelve times seven, all dark,
Etched only in memory, a father’s worn face,
A doctor’s log, a mother’s heaving grief.

Summer, 1985
dw

Copyright © 2019, becomingflame.com

Thinking of E and J…peace and healing to you…