Peace
Last night I received my Tuesday charm in the mail. This morning I read this post by her mother.
Jane said it eloquently. Mamie said it eloquently. I, on the other hand, have worn my charm all day, warm against my neck, unable to find the right words. I wrote in my journal (my “drafts” folder in gmail), but I’m struggling to decide what to share here.
A few weeks ago I left this quote for Tuesday’s mom on her blog:
“When you have come to the edge
Of all light that you know
And are about to drop off into the darkness
Of the unknown,
Faith is knowing
One of two things will happen:
There will be something solid to stand on or
You will be taught to fly”
- Peter Overton
At the time I wrote this in my “drafts journal”:
Isn’t it funny how while in the midst of life’s wildest and most challenging experiences we are just conscious of struggling through – trying to remember to breath, to eat and drink, to sleep. But to the rest of the world we are a superhero, able to fly with the grace of an eagle. People tell us we are strong and brave. We don’t feel brave though. We feel weak, sad and ready to sink into a never ending slumber. We tend not to be conscious of our faith, of the times we are living by it.
But you know, I don’t believe in giving bad things a good spin just to make people feel better. People do that with the best intentions but it disgraces the pain that you are suffering when you are in those darkest spaces. I believe that those dark places are sacred. I’m starting to reconsider that quote, that maybe faith is really about a third option, that we will just fall. Because we do fall and it hurts. Sometimes we fall on our own and sometimes because the ground falls out underneath us. Faith is still believing in something, anything, when we make that fall. And that is where grace comes in. I learned about grace from a woman who lost two adult children, separately, just a few years apart.
I believe in prayer. That doesn’t mean that I believe that it will always bring what we expect or what we deem to be the “right outcome”. I’m not done praying for Tuesday and the entire Whitt family, that they may know “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding…” Philippians 4:7. Please hold them close to your hearts, your thoughts and your prayers.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
I have struggled with what to write with regard to Tuesday as well. Mostly I have been struggling with ongoing issues that I have with faith. The Overton quote you put in this post is wonderful. Amazing. It defines faith in a way that I can accept and understand. BTW – I love your blog. I’ve been a lurker and this is my first time posting. This is a beautiful post.
i wish we could join hands in prayer for them, i wish we could hug and kiss them, instead i lit a candle and cried today. but still praying.