Good morning…

Many of you have written to me about the pain of losing sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, friends and extended family members. Our fruitful branches have been and will be pruned back by the death of a loved one, again and again. We know what it feels like to love and to lose, but do we also notice a new truth emerging? In God’s mysterious ways, we love, we lose, and we gain more love over time.

Henri Nouwen’s meditation from yesterday morning, 5.17.18, reveals the lasting, higher way of God’s love living on. Expanding. Multiplying. Reaching out in new forms. Nouwen writes: “Hope and faith will both come to an end when we die. But love will remain. Love is eternal. Love comes from God and returns to God. When we die, we will lose everything that life gave us except love. The love with which we lived our lives is the life of God within us. It is the divine, indestructible core of our being. This love not only will remain but will also bear fruit from generation to generation. When we approach our deaths let us say to those we leave behind, ‘Don’t let your heart be troubled. The love of God that dwells in my heart will come to you and offer you consolation and comfort.'”

Then Nouwen cites an example from the life and death of God’s own son. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home (John 19: 25-27, NIV).

Creating a mutual bond, we are “taken into the home” of our God-given spiritual family when our loved one returns to heaven. Brought to life in caring community, the Word of God promises: Now He who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed for sowing [that is, your resources] and increase the harvest of your righteousness [which shows itself in active goodness, kindness, and love] (2 Corinthians 9:10, AMP). In one of the greatest mysteries of life, the eternal love of God dwelling in the heart of the one we all deeply miss will come to us individually and collectively, offering comfort and consolation when we need it most.

…Sue…