Yearning for peace

photo by Greg Lincoln

by Greg Lincoln

How nice it is to be in the company of friends. That feeling of trust and love is like a balm for our pain-weary minds, quyana for your thoughts of kindness, your friendship and camaraderie, your compliments and encouragement, and most of all your prayers.

Peace is the absence of strife or pain and that is what we wish for as we struggle in the aftermath of losing our precious beloved one. We yearn for this peace that passeth all understanding, but it seems so elusive, so far, and so hard to reach. Even if we never achieve peace how can we not strive for it? We must try.

In times like these when we reflect on our current state of living and attempt to put it to words, we travail to make sense, to say the right words, and hope that it will bring healing to others.

Last weekend a kind lady met my wife by pure chance and spoke to her about her own experience of losing a child. She said that it is unlike any other grief known to a person. It does not compare to the loss of a family member, even a spouse. The cut goes deep beyond into the very innermost part of our being. And being a mother and experiencing this kind of loss as a mother is the greatest pain known to humankind. And even as the years pass, the bitter tears of loss still come as they please.

She had never met her before, yet she spoke to her like she knew her and loved her for years, thank you so much for showing you care.

Even nature shows this to be true. The only one who loves us more than our mother is our Lord. Mothers who are bereaved and suffering from your loss, please stay strong no matter how hard or impossible that may sound. Stand and finish this race that we are running.

If this realm of grief that we are now traveling in was shown on a map there would be places with names like the Sea of Pain, Ocean of Tears, the Desert of Despair, and the Sorrowful Mountains, and the list goes on and on.

But it would also have places like Dreamville where we can dream of our loved ones, and what else? It is too hard to think of anything.

Our bodies experience this sadness, this trauma, this everlasting pain nonstop, every day. Maybe it has made us older. Sometimes the pain manifests itself in physical form such as fatigue and lack of motivation. The pain is felt in our heart and it spreads through our chest and outward. We must not let this rule over us, each time it comes we must endure it until the worst passes. But how can we overcome? It may sound too simple, maybe even absurd, but for us we exercise, we keep our bodies in motion. Sometimes it is so hard to even think about exercising and even harder to get started, but we keep trying. It changes how our bodies deal with this unrelenting pain.

Let us continue to pray with each other for continued healing and to remember especially the mothers who are bearing this burden.