Grief is holy

 

There is much we are grieving now for ourselves, our country, for the world.  The loss of jobs, financial security, justice, health, safety, and trust mount daily.  So many things we relied on are now uncertain. It is worse for those who already lack so much.  While the grief in this time is acute, grief for what was always accompanies us through life.  As relationships, experiences, circumstances change, we are asked to let go of what we hold, to accept the new.  

When I am in a season of grief, it is as if I have landed on a strange and foreign shore.  The usual comforts offer little consolation.  I feel so alone in this grief and so very sad. I become much more empathically aware of the losses of others. I feel it in my gut and am amazed at the human capacity to go on living and even thriving with these tremendous losses of beloveds, of health, of livelihood.  The grief slows me down and makes me very tender. But I also can feel anxious, afraid and despairing.  In this dark season, I am surrendered, letting go of expectations and hope.

This work of grief is great and holy. If we allow it to make us tender, we will be transformed into people who know heartbreak and through this heartbreak love, compassion, and mercy. Through our necessary grief, we come to know ourselves and others at a much deeper level beyond surface-level appearances. In feeling the fullness of my grief, its darkness, aloneness, and intimacy, I feel the fullness of the grief that resides in all hearts. The grief for the lost mother, the imprisoned child, the forced layoff, the betrayals, the ailing body. I see how we are all so vulnerable and my jealousy, resentments, and lack of humility drains from my heart. I am lighter even under the weight of this grief.