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  • Loss

    Posted on January 13th, 2013 rhonda No comments

    (I wrote the following during the summer of 2012, but got distracted and never posted it.  The subject of this post passed away recently and I attended her funeral yesterday.  I’ll probably post a few more entries as a way of processing what happened.)

    “The grass withers and the flowers fall,

    but the word of our God stands forever.”

    Isaiah 40:7

    Over a year ago, one of my pastors made a powerful statement.  He said, “You will never have peace until you learn how to take a loss.”

    I’ve experienced several losses over the past year.  The latest is that one of our neighbors is moving.  We’re both long-time residents of our building and she’s one of my mom’s peers.  I grew up with her daughter.  Her health has started to decline, so she decided to accept her daughter’s invitation to move in with her and allow her daughter to take care of her.  Her daughter moved out of the state years ago.  Her mom and I always greet one another when we see each other, but we don’t see one another very often.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been to her house.

    Yet, I began to grieve her loss before she even left!  She’s one of the proverbial “pillars” of the community that I rely on.  Maybe it’s a psychological dependence.  There are just some people and some things in my life that have been so stable that their loss is jarring.  Loss is my word of wisdom for today.  They say that the only thing in life that remains the same is change.  Everyone and everything that we have will eventually be lost.  Cherish and enjoy them while you have them.  Tell people you appreciate them while they’re there.

    Only God remains the same.