I have come to understand that grief is my friend. It is protective; it makes sure that I don’t do something before I am ready. I like to think of it as a seared piece of meat. On the outside, the sear creates a necessary skin so that things can look okay – even when they are not. The sear is the armor for facing the day, today. In reality, it is still raw on the inside.
The promise of Advent is that the light of Christmas is coming. As it says in John’s gospel, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:5). Like Advent, my grief will protect me from immersing myself too quickly in the bright and blinking lights of Christmas. But life requires light. Of this much I am certain. To honor the love and life I had with my husband – and to reconcile the loss – I must walk toward the light.
This message is excerpted from “One will be left” by Kristen Glass Perez in the December 2019 Gather magazine. Today is the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.
Tonight, we gather from across the church for the annual Blue Christmas Service. The online service begins at 7:00 p.m. CST. There’s still time to register and receive the Zoom link.
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