Lost things....
This has been a hard a season for myself many of my friends as we've seen in some while. I'd seen a number of stories of Tribe folks this last month over the email list.
We'll be happy to chat about our story with folks more personally (rather than on an impersonal open internet) but suffice it to say both Laura and I have had our personal, painful losses this last month as well. We're doing really well as a couple going through this shared loss, but when cherished hopes die, saying "it hurts" is as much an understatement as I can imagine.
As Laura and I -- and many of our friends -- go through what I'd call textbook examples of minor depression over these kinds of lost things, one thought came to me that seemed likely worth sharing:
It's that we all carry around these lists of cherished things, lost to us. All of us.
Maybe we can be defined as people as much by our cherished losses -- by what things are on that list -- as much as we are what we have, or hope to have as cherished possessions.
Things on these lists are not things to be ashamed of, but maybe symbols of who we are, what we value, what and whom we mourn for. Things that in a safe place -- like Church should be -- we can share with one another to help heal the losses.
God seems happy to be defined by His cherished losses too... Caring for us, and Jesus seemed to go way out of His way to dream up various stories to illustrate that love for cherished losses - lost coins, lost sheep,lost jewelry, lost children.
- Tim
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