Scrolling through Facebook the other day, this post of a friend caught my eye: “We can’t leap over our grief work, Nor can we skip over our despair work. We have to feel it…. Historic cultures saw grief as a time of incubation, transformation, and necessary hibernation. Yet this sacred space is the very…Continue reading Grief – Stay With It
Tag: Grief
Oh The Places You Will Go … And The Places You Must Leave …
“Our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps.” Brennan Manning I remember walking through the doors of a house we had built in semi-rural Melbourne. It was a home that in years ahead would be the place where many friends and family members would gather – a place…Continue reading Oh The Places You Will Go … And The Places You Must Leave …
A Letter to My Heart
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller It was a remarkable experience to observe my heart on the echocardiographer’s screen. A tiny benefit of having a sudden onset of heart palpitations and the myriad of tests…Continue reading A Letter to My Heart
Lisa’s Story: The Path of Courage
“Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is ‘cor’ – the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant, ‘To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.’ Over time, this definition has changed, and today, we typically associate courage with heroic and brave deeds.…Continue reading Lisa’s Story: The Path of Courage
Life’s Most Ignored Partner: Death
“It is hard to have patience with people who say, ‘There is no death’ or ‘Death doesn’t matter.’ There is death. And whatever it is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn’t matter.” – C.S. Lewis – My sprightly father…Continue reading Life’s Most Ignored Partner: Death
Want to Walk the Road Less Travelled? Get off the Success Treadmill!
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. – Robert Frost – The ‘road less travelled’ is an alluring and romantic notion. It’s the idea that we can take steps out of our secure boundaries from time to time and feel like…Continue reading Want to Walk the Road Less Travelled? Get off the Success Treadmill!
Job, His Friends, and Disappointment
There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. – Martin Luther King, Jr. – The book of Job has always fascinated me. One of the oldest books in the Old Testament and most celebrated pieces of biblical literature, it is dominated by two main characters: Yahweh and a wealthy man called…Continue reading Job, His Friends, and Disappointment
Saying Goodbye Sucks!
Why can’t we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn’t work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos. – Charles M. Schulz It…Continue reading Saying Goodbye Sucks!
An uninvited Guest: Reflections on Grief
A Repost from last year: It was November 2007. My 11 year old German Shepherd staggered into the kitchen and collapsed. His heart had failed. We called a mobile vet and it was on this day we said goodbye to Simba. I grieved that dog. Those who love their animal friends will understand the pain of…Continue reading An uninvited Guest: Reflections on Grief
The Disappointing Messiah
There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. – Martin Luther King, Jr. Several years ago, we had the opportunity to visit beautiful France. Our time in Paris included a trip to the famous Louvre Museum. It was everything I imagined. Every step left me stunned and mesmerised. I do confess…Continue reading The Disappointing Messiah