Sometimes it seems that everywhere we look there is pain and suffering. This last sixteen months have highlighted the fragility of life, the importance of human connection and the vulnerability of humanity.

For some, it’s been a time of deep contemplation and discernment, for others it’s been a time of frenetic activity. For all of us, it’s been a step off the path of what we had come to view as “normal”.

With vaccination rollouts around the world, there is a tentative reaching out toward hope. We so desperately need hope! Yet, I feel that we should be cautious of rushing towards a future where we submerge ourselves once again in the day to day; that we should not be too quick to embrace whatever “new normal” emerges.

I recently read an article that asked the question, “What is this season for?”, and I find myself reflecting on this question now.

This season is for grieving.

    • Grieving the people we have lost, there are so many;
    • grieving the people we were before, we have all changed through this experience;
    • grieving a way of life that is forever altered.

We need to take time for the deep work of grief. Grief is a process of healing, of moving through, and learning to live with, loss and pain and change. It is a reaching inward, and reflecting on what was, and what is still to come; how our tomorrow will look different to our yesterday.

Grief is an opening up to how we really feel in this moment, and allowing God into that space. It is honouring the reality of our experience, and surrendering to the comfort of our faith.

Yes, this is a season for grief, and in our grief, a surrender, because through that surrender, we lean in to the hope that is ours in Christ.

Reflection

Take some time, as we begin to find our way out in the world again, to grieve and to reflect. Do the work, the difficult work, of leaning in and surrendering. Ask the questions:

    • What are the things that I miss about “life before”?
    • What are the things from before that I want to bring with me into the future?
    • What are the things I want to leave behind?
    • What do I want my life to look like going forward?
    • What do I want the world to look like going forward?
    • How can my life facilitate a better world?