We are blessed to share with you more of what Cornerstone of Hope has to offer for grieving children, teens and adults through our digital platform in a continued effort to create a world where no grieving person journeys alone.
The month of June is, among other things, the time of year when we celebrate our fathers on Father’s Day. It is another of the many occasions with the potential to trigger feelings of grief and loss. Having lost my own dad five years ago, I anticipate the experience of my own twinges—and perhaps stabs—of sadness.
When I look back on that year the pain is ever present but love and joy are what fill my heart the most. It was the hardest yet simplest time in my life. And although it felt like nothing made sense, everything did.
What I learned all those years ago was that in walking in the truth of my own vulnerable, fragile humanity, in reaching out and meeting a grieving person from this humbled place, God’s spirit can do healing, wondrous, sacred, profound work.
Our beloved Pope Emeritus died in December 2022, so it seems fitting to honor him in this month’s message. In his work titled, “Spe Salvi” or “Saved in Hope,” Pope Benedict declares, “The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.”
If grief were a month, it would be February.
Though the calendar assures us that the days are getting longer, we turn our faces towards a sky that often denies us the warmth and light of the sun for which we are longing. The days drag on ever so slowly, and the promise of spring feels impossibly far away. Hibernation — the pull to stay in, to shut down — is tempting.
While there is an invitation to begin again at any time, the start of a new year can be a unique opportunity to strive towards something new or set a new goal for ourselves. During a season of intense grief and pain, however, this concept can seem impossible.
Whatever your vantage point, stop and look around. This person may be currently grieving, that person may be about to be levelled by loss, that person may finally be coming up for air. You each have a unique, individual grief story, and yet you, me — all of us — we all share the language of grief and loss that is part of our human experience.
Arguably one of the most beautiful, poetic descriptions of what we can hope for, both for ourselves and our loved ones who have died, is the verse from 1 Corinthians: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what things God has prepared for those that love Him.”
No matter what loss you’re grieving, we don’t want you to be alone. Ever. But the truth is that many people are alone with their grief. There are myriad reasons for this reality, and one of the most painful is because a loss isn’t seen by many, or if it is, it’s far too devastating for most people to acknowledge.
In the weeks and months that followed 9/11, we shared with our church family, our friends, and colleagues the news of Becky’s tragic passing. Our church family kept saying how “strong” we were during this trial. We didn’t feel strong at all; I give God all the glory for any strength others observed in us. He was truly our rock and our fortress through this dark time in our lives.
A loved one dies, and so many blocks come crashing down. Plans crash. Dreams crash. A future comes to an end. The pain of our losses is shattering; our broken hearts don’t quite know how to mend. On our walk of faith, our spiritual journey, it’s precisely amidst the shambles that God can work most powerfully.
There are so many situations in our lives where we withdraw from or exclude what makes us uncomfortable and confused, whether it is our own grief or another’s. How important it is though, for us to be present to the situation or the suffering, even if we are helpless to do anything else.
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Lima, Ohio 45806
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