Loss and Hope

Loss. It is a soft word. Alone, it flows from the brain through the mouth with little effort. This is why it is so often preceded by a descriptive word -- painful, tragic, incomprehensible, devastating, grievous, shocking, total.

Loss is a forerunner. A forerunner to anxiety, depression, loneliness, and change.

Loss has a memory. It triggers the emotions of previous losses. Loss compounds.

Loss brings on different reactions. Sometimes it depends on what is lost, past losses, and what is in the emotional and spiritual bank of the one who has lost.

When my birth mother lost her husband (and my father) in a tragic automobile accident, she was not able to handle the loss. She was probably already depressed, after his death she became dillusional. She began telling neighbors that she killed my father. How she handled this loss, resulted in the loss of her four children. She had no reserves, so she was not able to care for us.

The antidote to loss is hope. The bridge to hope often needs to be rebuilt. This bridge is not built by the one who has lost, but by the community. Many in this community have experienced loss themselves, so they build with understanding and love.

Communities of love build bridges of hope. Hope inspires, ignites, and invites others to participate in the process.

Hope is what we need -- not criticism, or blame, or political partisanship. Hope for the future. Hope that life will get better. Hope in something that is greater than ourselves.

Psalm 65

5 You answer us in righteousness,
with awe-inspiring works,
God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the distant seas;

6 You establish the mountains by Your power,
robed with strength; 7 You silence the roar of the seas,
the roar of their waves,
and the tumult of the nations. 8 Those who live far away are awed by Your signs;
You make east and west shout for joy. 9 You visit the earth and water it abundantly,
enriching it greatly.
God's stream is filled with water,
for You prepare the earth in this way,
providing [people] with grain. 10 You soften it with showers and bless its growth,
soaking its furrows and leveling its ridges. 11 You crown the year with Your goodness;
Your ways overflow.