I’ve never wanted Heaven to exist more than now. The present time has taken on an importance that is demanding to describe. It’s not that I didn’t desire it before, there is just a more pressing need. When I say pressing need, what I probably ought to say is ~ a cumulative need, to hope, to trust and believe in anything takes a great deal of loyalty. It takes a resilient kind of hope that can process the disappointments of life, let alone manage the grief. I have found that grief arrives in all shapes and sizes. It outstays its meagre welcome and presses upon weary souls. The grief is so strong that a nation mourns with a Memorial Wall full of loved hearts.
You might imagine that after almost a thousand loving funeral services, a ton of illness and lots of faithful years, that my belief in Heaven would be tank like…but its not about belief anymore, it is about needing it to be so, most especially for our loved ones. We lost a most precious pal this month ~ a shock so unexpected, that we were winded. We were completely overwhelmed with the loss of someone so completely moral, kind and joyously good. Their loss is incalculable. What I pray most is that they knew how much we loved them. They died from Covid. They were young. They have left a fabulous family and young children. Please pray for them. Please pray and support those with Long Covid.
The balance of life is so precarious. We look strong and then everything can change in an afternoon. The balance of normality is delicate and how we wish for the wealth of it when we are lacking it. Those juxtapositions present themselves more sharply when at the extremes of emotions. One such juxtaposition was that this was meant to be a blog about contented joy and how to attain it. It was a nice blog…wise and reassuring I hope. It was planned to fall into the theme of July being Joy month.
Then the grief hit us with such an overwhelming swipe that I could hardly breathe for a week. The thought of my precious pal’s young children being without them has become more heart-breaking by the day. Their ability for joy will be compromised so seriously that they might doubt it will return. It will. It just will be touched with a deeper understanding of the extremes of life; the injustices of life and the pain. A knowledge of the sadness that can just swamp you in a second and the love that it can never extinguish. Ironically, I had assigned August as the month of GRACE and that, is all we can hope for now. The grace to get through the hardest days and hope that the light will drag us through. The hope of Heaven sustains the soul when weakest because it allows us to hope that our loved ones who have already arrived will be there as the welcome. A welcome that defies any imagination and a peace that is beyond all understanding. I hope so. I pray so. I trust is all the lifetimes of faithful believers have got it right. I don’t want the cynics to be right. I don’t want the deniers to be rejoicing. I just want to rejoice in hope of Heaven when hearts on earth are broken.
Therefore, I implore you…whatever you believe… believe the in the science and the grace of social distancing, wearing masks and taking the greatest care. Nothing is worth the grief. I beseech you to make sure that your most precious people know that they are vital to your heart, mind and soul. Tell them frequently. Tell them now. Therefore, I hope that you understand at the deepest level, how vital you are to many good people. You’re their light, blessing and purpose. Together we can make a little bit of Heaven on earth in our most generous, brave and selfless acts. Tragically, I know one of the people who is helping at the Memorial Wall as she lost her beloved husband. I shall ask her to make a heart for our precious pal. They need our love, as do so many. Those hearts are saying a million different things to the past, present and future. We must be wise enough to listen and our leaders humble enough to hear to really hear them and live out that which we most need to say: thank you for loving us so well, we will love you eternally. Amen.