You’re on the road going from point A to point B. B is the goal. Some people prefer to take the most direct route even if it means traffic while others prefer to go, past and circle back because there is less traffic. Some people find out the names of streets and look for clearly marked street signs, while others find and make note of landmarks to guide them. Some folks think in terms of turning east at the intersection, others think instead, “Turn towards the river”, to get there.
The journey is made differently for different folks, we could say, according to different ways that work best individually but they all end up at the same destination just the same.
If the journey one is on is one that is taking them to be in a new place and a new life, because of loss. it can be a journey with little to look forward to.
The loss may be the mate of a life time gone on the way of all mankind. Left behind are all the physical evidences of that life together… but the warm body, the distinctive sound and intonations of voice, the familiar mannerisms and their predictability, their presence is gone.
Family and loved ones, those well meaning and caring suggest and encourage changes that one resists because not only is their loved one gone and the life so familiar and comfortable not the same… now also they are being asked, sometimes being told, to leave the familiar and loved surroundings and dispose of so much accumulation all of which has with it a story, a memory. “You won’t need this. Why would you keep that? Yes you may have room for it.” All these are logical thoughts and questions but all is not cold logic.
I would be thinking “This all means something to me even if you think otherwise. Now I have to choose between what I want to give up…and what I want to give up? What if I don’t want to give any of it up?”
Looking from the outside in, is just that, we’re outside, the loss is theirs not ours, what lies ahead is easy to see and decisions clear to make. “Wise” as we may be, it is not so for them and may not be so at all.
Time and patience and respect take priority…at least I think that would be obedience and demonstration of the love our Father requires of us.
Circumstances have a kind of will that will be done but we can soften and gentle down the experience of that will even if we cannot change it.
We could possibly think of ourselves as midwives aiding in delivering, out of the womb of a previous life, one into a new life and be caregivers and nurturers during and after the birth… much the same in fact…
as we aid one another having been re-birthed from above, dying to an old life and birthed into a new one. Memories of the past hang on and hinder, at times, visualizing good in the future. We need to be understanding of what is happening and be there to help with what is needed… with strength and direction and care and trust in the direction of our Father, for:
“…A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps…” Proverbs 16:9 AKJV
So there is more than one way, more than one plan. We need to trust… beyond our own wisdom be flexible… trust beyond present circumstances that discourage us in the moment and blind us to joy possible… once through them.
We can trust and look to our Maker in these things knowing and expecting that every good thing …He is the source of… and He is working in the lives of His children…and all folks really… and so a good thing can come to be.
We may be rewarded by our involvement, whatever that may be, in seeing one who started unhappy and regretfully down a particular path… we may witness God’s touch…when they start to look up and about and little by little, come to a realization there is blessing yet… here in new surroundings, in new faces He sends their way… that the new can become familiar and satisfying, enriched by the experiences and wisdom of a lifetime.
We… can be the recipients of blessing by listening and learning, from them about paths to take as we help them in the path they are on.
Father…we pray for a caring heart…an understanding heart…a patient heart in our dealings with one another and that we would approach all our interactions thoughtfully and with a desire for what is best…but with an ear sensitive to the prompting of Your Spirit as it leads us… even if It is telling us to go about things differently than we thought right… not sacrificing the goal but in order to make the process less burdensome and the outcome an actual blessing.
Father grant… in their time and ours…enabling power to go through seasons of change in life, with clear minds and common sense in decision making for what needs to be done.
Give Your comfort through the losses and letting go… and may on the other side of hard times we continue living in Your peace and joy.
We thank You Father for life with all its many and varied circumstances and the opportunities afforded each of us in them… to grow closer to You and closer to each other.
May we continually be renewing our minds…walking as You guide.
We love You Abba Dear Father.
In Yeshua’s name we pray.
Amen.
May God’s love be in us all.
Elder
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