Life just happens, it is not God or any other higher power putting evil in our life or giving us more than our shoulders can bear. Life is just life, it’s a world of natural causes which sometimes we just don’t have answers to. Yet the world was created for us to live in the best way we know how. We are here to love each other and to be here for each other. The famous saying, love thy neighbor. Right? This week has been incredibly hard for some of us; we have had a loved one die un-expectantly. When this happens we tend to blame those around us, we try to find answers and we try to make sense of it. After all we are only human. We make mistakes and life just happens.
I remember when someone close to me passed away, I was a little apprehensive about coming back to work and my studies as a chaplain because I cringed at the thought of people saying certain words of condolences to me such as ‘she’s in a better place’, ‘this must be hard for you’. No one knows how the other feels or can really say anything to make you feel better. Death is imminent yet when it happens it becomes so unfair and hurtful to those who are left behind and even more so when it is unexpected.
This week we have had several unexpected deaths, a small child, a middle aged man, a young woman. So what can we do when we are traumatized in this way? One thing I have always used to pull me through is my faith. So if faith is something which goes beyond you; can it help? Faith is trust, love and hope. My faith allows me to trust in the will of the world, so that when I’m hurting I will find strength to get me through. I find each person loves in their own way and the best way they can. My love of people helps me to be open to those around me who just want to be there for me. And my hope is that we will all get through this together as a source of support, comfort and to lend a shoulder.
I pray we all get through the joys and tragedies in our life with the help of our family, friends and a perfect stranger.
moments of revelation by sharon 