A Time for Sorrow

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to week and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time for peace."

This very familiar passge from Ecclesiastes seems very applicable right now in my life and in the life of several of those closest to me.


I find myself definitely in a time of mourning.  The sudden loss of our cat Jeb just a little over a week ago and the probable cancerous tumor that we just discovered on our dog, Zoe has left me reeling. Then there is the sadness of those whom I am closest to. My close friends, Lori and Rebekah, are dealing with the passing of Lori's mom.  My dear friend, Ashley has lost both a good friend and her grandfather, both in the last couple of weeks.  I am finding myself surrounded by sadness and loss.  Then this morning on my ferry ride and walk into work I found myself deep in prayer. 
What a powerful thing prayer can be. 

Not in the way that some imagine - in other words I don't feel the pain and sadness subside as much as I feel God's presence surrounding me and actually helping me to allow myself to mourn and to weep.  Knowing that as much as everything seems out of control - and it truly is out of MY control - it is firmly in God's control.  He, our Creator, our Keeper, our Comfort, is in charge and although I can be crippled by grief and wonder why this is happening to me, I do find peace in my faith that God sees that which I cannot.  I find peace in the hope that those whom we have lost are now in some other realm of consciousness, that they are with God. 

God wants us to mourn, it is the natural thing to do when we have lost someone near to us.  He also fully expects us to comfort those who are mourning.  This is our responsibility as fellow travelers in this journey of life.  So I will pray.  I will pray for my family and my friends and their families.  I will pray that God helps us all to find a deep wide space in our hearts for this grief so that we can deeply mourn those that we have lost.  I will pray that, after this time of deep sorrow, we will rise up again, and dance.