Moments with Mary

  LAST WORDS. Last words.  What were those last words my loved one heard come from me?  Was it…”I Love You” or were they words now filled with regret?  Ideally, we want our final words to sound like the gentle whisper of the wind; not some harsh tornado of hurts.  But the reality is, so often we don’t know when our words will be our last words.  All endings are in the present moment.  So be in the present moment.  Try to speak words that finish that moment.   Words you can live with.   Still, in the end, regardless of what was said or unsaid or how it was said, be assured that the silent feelings of true LOVE always speaks to the heart no matter what was spoken and what remains unspoken. Love is patient and kind…it does not rejoice at wrong-doing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.  1Cor 13:4, 7-8 ESV

 BRIGHT SPOTS In the midst of intense grief, within those moments of deep “missing” and feelings of loss, there is a place within that needs to peek ahead – perhaps it’s as simple as to name it a moment called hope.  Still, there is place within each of us that needs assurance that “I’m not always going to hurt this badly.”  Until the intensity of hurt and loss lessens, which it will, there are some small steps you can take to feel your heavy load will lighten at some point ahead.  Very simply…give yourself something to look forward to.  It can be something as simple as taking a walk around the block or sitting on a park bench enjoying the breeze or holding a child or reading a poem or devotion or observing scenes of nature in your neighborhood or having lunch with a friend.  Alongside your grief, you need to make sure you add something out of your ordinary into your routine.  You can call these moments bright spots.  And at the end of the day, pa...

NUMB RELIEF It’s quite extraordinary really…this grief sensation of feeling numb.   Feeling numb means we are deprived of the power of sensation or feeling or responsiveness.  I believe that in our creation, God thought to better prepare us for any situation that will intensely affect us, by emotionally numbing us to help us cope.  When we receive devastating news, we then feel  shocked at the initial reaction to this news, and then disbelief, and then enter into this intense sensation of feeling numb.  I read once that a woman who is about to bear a child releases an enzyme that naturally numbs the birth canal.  While this natural enzyme doesn’t completely free mom from all the pain of childbirth, it helps to reduce the intensity of the physical pain she will experience.   Our Creator God is a master of wonder…who would ensure in our birth that the physical pain our moms feels is lessened to help us enter into this earthly life and who would...