I haven’t written for a very long time, and as with many things I’ve “had good intentions”. But today I break my silence.

Grief is one of those things that often comes unexpected, like a thief in the night or a bolt of lightening across the sky. It robs us of our focus. It puts the brakes on everything we had thought important. It drenches hopes and plans until they appear limp and futile and meaningless. It shakes our foundations. It crashes through our life. It tears into our relationships. It seems to sever our very soul.

Such is the impact of loss, of change, . . . of death.

And I say death still has it’s sting for those left behind. It still hurts as we journey across this life. To lose someone or something, whether through the unexpected or the anticipated, is not meant to be joyful. We lose. We cry. We hurt. We question.

But we also still and quiet our soul before the only One who makes sense of everything, even pain and loss and grief. And this is where the tension is. We ask our questions and learn to trust the silence. We wail and mourn and hope in the knowledge that there is a reality beyond what we see and touch and hear. We miss what is lost and set our sights on the hope that one day all will be right . . . again.

Sometimes meaning is only found when we engage this tension.

So until I write again . . .