The past week a mother sat vigil for her 36-yearold son, an unfortunate victim of sepsis that invaded his body while he was receiving cancer treatment. Much like a hired assassin, it did its dirty work, packed up, and left behind a brokenhearted family.
Death does win. Death does sting. I will challenge those scriptures until my own passing.
Yet I will fiercely acknowledge what Paul wrote about faith, hope, and love in Corinthians. Our prayers last week were manifestations of our faith and our hope that Trey would be healed on this earth. He was not, yet love remains.
Like two braided ribbons, love and grief intertwine. They are forever dance partners. We simply cannot escape this reality, nor perhaps should we. Still, we need never apologize for feeling gutted when death comes, in particular, for the young.
“Grief shows up in the aisle we once frequented, in the half-finished bottle of wine we pour out, in the whiff of cologne we get two years after they’ve been gone. Grief is a giant neon sign, protruding through everything, pointing everywhere, broadcasting loudly, ‘Love was here.’ In the fine print, quietly, ‘Love still is.’” – Heidi Priebe May love do what love does: guide us gently through the slow mist and, at times, the deep fog of grief so that we may persevere to love again.
Snyder, Texas, native Sue Jane Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher whose thought-provoking commentary appears occasionally in several West Texas newspapers, including The Texas Spur and The Caprock Courier.
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