Grief is exhausting. It is the difficulty of existing in two worlds at a time. The quotidian round of meals, children, conversations, driving the car; and at the same time one foot is in that river that never stops flowing past, that every now and then surges up and breaks over you. While you're walking down the driveway or when you're sitting on the porch watching the moon rise. When you look at your own son strong and well, and you imagine his heart stopping in a med-evac jet touching down in Johannesburg.
Two things at a time are real. In the midst of life we are in death.
Two things at a time are true: the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
My daughter went to school with that boy and just heard the news. We grieve with you.
ReplyDeleteBless you Anna. You have such a gift with words. A beautiful way of writing down what the heart is feeling. Praying for you during your time of loss.
ReplyDeleteAnna what beautiful words. So precise and descriptive of grief. Sending prayers your way!
ReplyDeleteyour words are so true. aren't we blessed to have a God that is perfectly sovereign. while it's all so hard to imagine...we know He is in the midst.
ReplyDeletePraying for you and your friend. I just can't imagine.
ReplyDeleteAnna, I am so sorry for your close at heart loss. In this last week we have felt the loss of 4 dear ones who unexpectedly passed away. Grief is exhausting, and at the same time, a wonderful reminder that we were not made for this world, but for eternity. May the Lord bring comfort to this hurting family through your loving family.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully put, Anna.
ReplyDeleteMy blog friend Kimberly (of Kimberly's Cup) gave birth to a still born preemie baby a couple of weeks ago. She is going through so much grief.
ReplyDeleteWe talked about how odd it seems that the world goes on when your own world has been changed so dramatically.
My son is almost nineteen, I can't imagine what the parents are going through.
Love how you said it, Anna!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wish the world would stop, so that grief could have it's own place, instead of sharing it with the constant continuation of life....but that's God's design, to keep me moving.
God bless you, Anna.
ReplyDeleteAnna, I'm so very sorry this happened. This is a poem I wrote last year when a friend of mine had a child die.
ReplyDeleteTornado
This day: light, cheerful.
Why would a dark tornado
center on my soul?
You grope, far away,
through a dangerous atmosphere
of whirling debris.
I want to comfort,
but I can only suffer,
feel your misery.
Loss screams violently.
It shakes us mercilessly;
we can't get away.
I don't know why I shared that, except to try to empathize.
We live in South Africa and am interested in what you said about Johannesburg. Did your friend's son die in Johannesburg? So sad to hear of your loss.
ReplyDeleteThere are times when it just doesn't seem right that life should go on as it always has. It feels as though the whole world should mourn for a time.
ReplyDeletePraying that He will bring comfort and peace to all of you.
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ReplyDeleteHaving lost a son, I know the searing pain. May the Lord continue to spread His comfort one to another during this painful time.
ReplyDeleteWe are saddened too by this loss.
ReplyDeleteI knew his Grandparents well--I went to the same school as this young man--many years before.
Blessings,
Karen
What a poignant description of grief. I hope the waters are calming.
ReplyDelete