| "The
Depth of Grief, the Assurance of Love" By
Peggy Byland
"Out of Mouths... From the Heart"
“Even
there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” - Psalm 139:10
(ESV)
He
made the bed, cleaned the house from top-to-bottom and front-to-back, read the mail,
scanned the TV, assembled a light dinner, washed the dishes putting each cup and utensil
back into its right place and climbed into bed at 8:00.
Such was the routine of each day.
As
he lay in the empty bed, he recalled the progression of incidences leading to his wife’s
death. The extreme pain in the night, the
hurried call to the physician, the interminably long wait in the ER, the tubes and tape
and plastic identification bands round her wrists, the waning strength and draining color
in her face. Then she was gone.
How
would he cope? There had been no time to
prepare. Where to begin, where to end? How could he make sense of his life without her? His despair was great.
The
clergy at his church was helpful, but they could not do the work of grief and the
reordering of his life. But they did remind
him of God’s gracious love and unfailing presence.
“You
have surrounded me on every side, behind me and before me, and You have placed Your hand
gently on my shoulder.” - Psalm 139:5 (The Voice)
He
needed that – to be assured he was not alone. The
pain would be deep, lessening as the months went by, but through every moment he would
feel God’s hand on his shoulder. The One
who knew him would show him the way to fullness once again.
Prayer: We cannot know the why of our pain, but we can
know the depth of Your love. Amen.
|
