R -- RETURN
Sometimes in grief, it can feel like everyone else’s world keeps spinning while yours has come to a stop, but because of the love that was shown to me, I’m encouraged these days to follow up with people in their struggles…one month later, a year later, whatever it may be.
I have a few people that come to mind when I think of the word return. But there was one person is particular that always asked me, “How is your heart?" She hasn’t stopped. This was something I was asked before my husband passed away and since. She constantly returns to my pain. She let me know that just as the hole this loss has left will always be with me, it will also be with her.
She has showed me a depth of friendship that I hadn’t known before but felt I longed to experience. Friendship can and should go below the surface. Even though below the surface is unknown, being vulnerable allows for space and feelings of being known to happen. Which mends the heart in a way nothing else can.
Returning to people’s pain, again and again, allows the SENDER cycle to start all over again, so that we may sit with people, empathize with people, navigate their pain alongside them, deepen our care for them, and embrace them as they are. Returning allows a friendship to flourish. It allows healing to continue through relationship.
“Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.”
Ecclesiastes 12:7 NKJV
This reward of heaven is something still hard to grasp. But, when we return to the table of the Lord, we find peace, joy, strength, passion, confidence and so much more. So, keep returning to the bread of life. It’s what produces the resurrection life within us. The more we absorb it, the more we become it. The more we can share it.
“So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
II Corinthians 5:6-8 NKJV
“being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
Philippians 1:6 KJVA
Returning home is the best reward and feeling one can have. It’s our happy place. It’s our safe-haven. It’s our resting place. It’s our gathering place. Heaven is all those things and more. We have so much to look forward to on the other side one day.
But until then, always remember to bring your cheer and smile from ear to ear.
I hope you have enjoyed this SENDER series. Up next will be on the HEART.
I can’t wait to impart more from the heart, because I believe when you speak from the heart, you hit the mark every single time.