by Greg Lincoln
Each year we plan a trip to Fairbanks for the World Eskimo Indian Olympics. It is always pleasant to see another part of our great state and to visit our friends and relatives who live in Interior Alaska.
It is also a chance for us to visit all the places that we have been to if we choose to, kind of like being a tourist. All the memories we have of those places are sure to come back, they always do. Visiting places you’ve been to seems to have that effect.
All of our family and our friends are part of an incredible support group no matter where they live. Like a protective hedge that encompasses us on all sides. We are grateful for you all! If you think about it, each one of you have one too. And each part of your support group has a special significance, or strength, that can be like a gift to you in your time of need.
What are some of those special talents? For some it may be food – we have some really good cooks out there, each family has at least one. And others may be gifted in organizing and cleaning, or playing an instrument, or storytelling. Some may be incredible berry pickers, which is happening right now. Thank you Lord for this season of the abundance of the fruit of the tundra.
This is an important part of grieving, you need others around you who are there to help when your mind is in a state of shock.
Grief cannot be fixed. It only can be borne or carried by those who have been destined to bear it. A loss so great cannot be made right or made better or changed in some way or forgotten.
So how do we carry a burden so great, this crushing load, so immense a pain? All we have to do is look around us, we are surrounded by a great cloud of grief warriors. There are people we know who are experiencing this right now and we might not even know it.
Thank you always for your prayers and thoughts. They keep us afloat, buoyed above the waves. Let us remember those who are suffering from losing a loved one and to pray continually for them.
This trip to the Interior also has a race in store for us folks, the Race of the Torch. It is a 5K that always seems like it is longer, I’m not sure why but I think the heat has something to do with it. Hopefully it will not be unbearable like the heat wave we had here a couple weeks ago. This race is a tradition that we hope to keep as long as we can, quyana.
