In Loss, We Pray...

This week, one of our local merchants was the victim of theft. It was alarming and unusual news. Several of us on Main Street dropped in to check on her. Our merchants work hard on our behalf. Their efforts help to create and sustain community. So, when one of our merchants feels pain, we all feel pain.

As I looked in through the shop door, the owner was visibly crestfallen. I told her we would all pray on her behalf. The words fell so effortlessly off my tongue, but was I being fair? As I looked into the merchant's tear stained eyes, I remembered my visit to the hospital this week. Dear kind reader, you may have wondered why my letter to you was so long in coming. Monday, I traded the silent green of the wilderness for the concrete, steel, and noise of the big city. A car service took me on the three hour drive. There are no trains or buses where I live to make the long trip to the nearest specialty hospital.

And, yes, I required specialists. The hospital visit was a challenge. Revisiting the chaos and violence of city life, having to bear bad news regarding the health of my body, it all became too much. There was a moment where I too gave in to the pain. I mourned the loss of the person I used to be, and I mourned the loss of the life I used to lead. In that moment of weakness, I despaired of ever finding light. Like that merchant on Main Street, I bowed my head in utter surrender. But, there is mercy in weakness. As I raised my head, and opened my eyes, I saw light, all around me, in my doctor's smile, and in the warm loving faces of the wheel chair bound, as well as in the serenity of the gurney-ridden along the walls of the emergency room. Despite the fact that all the patients had been brought by crisis to the same emergency room I found myself in, there was light emanating from within each and every person.

We all close our eyes, heads bowed, in those moments of loss. Perhaps, it is precisely in the sweet surrender that we become strong once again. Only, it is strength of a different kind.

After the loss, of whatever it may be, loss of money, livelihood, health, we begin anew. As much as we are affected by the journey, we also add to it. We bring ourselves to the journey as we are, and remaining open, we become one with the light.