A hurting family, and a joyful one:
Of course, we can be mostly one and still know some of the other. I think that most of us have a mix of these two things in our lives. The beloved family who is grieving their son's death has mixed amid their anguish the joy he brought to their lives, the memories of the precious person he is, and the belief that he is now set free of his failings to be in God's presence for all eternity. The beloved family celebrating their daughter's wedding is grieving the absence of the son who isn't here because he was unwilling or unable to manage his leave requests such that he could be with them.
It has been good for us, in this week in which we have been hurting with the first family to also celebrate our love for and with them. It will be good, too, when rejoicing with the second family today to share in their twinge of emptiness.
Knowing that God is self-sufficient can leave us with the impression that God is free from pain and grief, even if we look at the cross and know otherwise, because we associate these things with lack, and we know that God has no lack. But I think that instead we should sometimes - perhaps much more often and more completely - associate them with love, with our union with other hearts. And God is love.
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