Good morning…
“Now with the Awake To Wholeness retreat behind us, might we celebrate your birthday season?” I texted a friend. (As I reflect, I realize that “behind” is the wrong word. It is more accurate to say, “Now with the retreat inside us, might we celebrate?”)
“And . . . I thoroughly enjoyed retelling the Saturday experience to several friends yesterday,” another friend wrote. “It keeps giving!”
“Then . . . Henri Nouwen’s piece for the day resonates through the memories from Saturday once more,” she continued. “This is the work of the Holy Spirit, is it not?”
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DAILY MEDITATION | NOVEMBER 10, 2021 – The Blessing Hidden in Grief by Henri Nouwen
What to do with our losses? . . . We must mourn our losses. We cannot talk or act them away, but we can shed tears over them and allow ourselves to grieve deeply. To grieve is to allow our losses to tear apart feelings of security and safety and lead us to the painful truth of our brokenness. Our grief makes us experience the abyss of our own life in which nothing is settled, clear, or obvious, but everything is constantly shifting and changing.
. . . But in the midst of all this pain, there is a strange, shocking, yet very surprising voice. It is the voice of the One who says: “Blessed are those who mourn; they shall be comforted.” That’s the unexpected news: there is a blessing hidden in our grief. Not those who comfort are blessed, but those who mourn! Somehow, in the midst of our tears, a gift is hidden. Somehow, in the midst of our mourning, the first steps of the dance take place. Somehow, the cries that well up from our losses belong to our songs of gratitude.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. – PSALM 34:18 (NIV)
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This, I believe, is the work of the Holy Spirit inside us. The tearful blessing in our grief mysteriously awakes our hidden wholeness. Somehow, the cries that well up from our losses belong to our songs of gratitude.
…Sue…
