Yesterday, I spent some time setting up for a prayer service today focused on the Stations of the Cross and the situation in the Ukraine.
Then, I got home and scrolled social media to see once again the magnitude of the horror of this situation. The horror and the undeniable grief.
I imagine we all know what grief feels like in our own lives.
I imagine, like me, some of you wish to avoid its clutches as much as possible.
But what if we let grief be… grief?
Here is a poem I wrote last night as I contemplated that very question and searched for an answer to believe in…
THE UNEXPECTED FLOOD
I know quite intimately
what grief feels like.
In fact, don’t we all?
At some point
in this life’s long
and twisty journey,
we all have felt its
grip.
When you are in it,
right smack dab
IN. IT.
there are NO words.
There are NO answers,
are there?
It just is what it is.
And you can run
and you can hide…
or you can
FEEL. IT. ALL.
But even deciding
to give in and just feel it all
doesn’t make grief
move quicker to its end.
It takes the time it takes.
No more, no less,
just enough.
Still, there is something
truly amazing that happens
when you give in
and let the grief be…
grief.
Something inside begins to
break free.
Something new is offered.
It’s not answers.
(not usually)
It’s still hurt.
(most of the time)
But there is also
something more.
A showering,
no really a downpour
of unexpected grace
floods in
and takes up space
inside
until all the wells dug deep
by the rivers of tears
are filled.
It’s WHEN we lack
the words.
It’s WHEN we lack
the hope.
It’s WHEN we lack…
everything
and finally, finally give in
and let the grief take its hold…
That’s when God finds God’s voice
and speaks.
Into the silence,
into the heartache,
into the deepest wells,
God’s voice moves in
and fills every space
and offers us
rest.
©2022, Gretchen Crowder
