Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Colossians 3:12

This has been another busy week. I am still dealing with a lot of details, but I have a more measured and confident feeling about the path forward. Several of the larger puzzle pieces seem to be finding their way into place and, mostly, I have a growing sense of peace.

Also, thinking about what “grief” is, I realize that it is less about sadness and more about loss. I am not sad so much as I am thankful; not empty of parents so much as full with gratitude; not hurting so much as aching; not regretful but wistful.

That really is it. I had my mother for more than sixty-seven years, both parents for more than sixty-six. Between them, mum and dad poured 186 years of winsome goodness into a world that needed every bit of it, every prayer they faithfully offered, every moment of God’s love they multiplied.

That is not sadness but thanksgiving!

Powerful prayer/poem:

So my prayer this morning is that those my mum and dad (“Grandma” and “Grandpa”) loved so dearly, those who remain – and in particular Andrew and Naomi and Hannah – will know the tear-stained depths of that faith-saturated legacy, and serve God with all the humility and the Christlikeness of their grandparents – all the grace and the love that they can receive, all the grace and the love that they cannot contain.

There is a prayer Rebekah and I have prayed, out loud, every day since the weekend of my mum’s memorial service. We found it in “Prayers Encircling the World” and it speaks with such eloquent clarity.

Thank you Lord
that your grace
helps us to realize
that rebellion
against weakness, sins, mistakes
is the pride
of those who think themselves perfect
and forget that we are
weakness, weakness, weakness!
Ah! If only our pride understood
that you perform miracles 
to sustain
true and genuine humility.
- Dom Helder Camara, Brazil

Let us not forget that we are “weakness, weakness, weakness,” and that if we are to proceed in the ways of grace – and Grace & David – and love and light and mercy, then we must embrace humility, we must understand our inherent weakness, and we must allow ourselves the possibility – the salvation – of healing.

In love, and because the love and the light my parents gifted me must find their home in those I love so deeply too – DEREK