Welcome back to Kitchen Table Talk—this week I wanted to pose the question, “In the midst of deep grief, what beauty or image serves as the balm of hope?”
As you can see in my poem “Now you are the Seed” the image of a seed (which is also the Biblical metaphor Jesus and Paul use to talk about Death and Resurrection), is an image that brings me profound comfort.
Any photo of nature, but especially trees. They are solid and steady, yet bend to the wind, grow in little increments for years and years, and shelter other living things. Resilient and majestic, as is the love of God.
A few years ago when I was in a period of intense grief that was difficult to talk about, I would take long walks and recite parts of the poem “On Pain” by Khalil Gibran to myself. I think the idea of grief being a season, of pain being a way of knowing I was alive, kept me going a little bit. These stanzas especially:
“And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.”
Mine is a butterfly. Much like a seed experiences darkness & death, so does the caterpillar before the transformation and freedom to take flight as a butterfly.
Any photo of nature, but especially trees. They are solid and steady, yet bend to the wind, grow in little increments for years and years, and shelter other living things. Resilient and majestic, as is the love of God.
A few years ago when I was in a period of intense grief that was difficult to talk about, I would take long walks and recite parts of the poem “On Pain” by Khalil Gibran to myself. I think the idea of grief being a season, of pain being a way of knowing I was alive, kept me going a little bit. These stanzas especially:
“And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.”
Mine is a butterfly. Much like a seed experiences darkness & death, so does the caterpillar before the transformation and freedom to take flight as a butterfly.