Hope is usually something we only think about when things are hard in our lives. We do not need hope when all is well and the sun is shining. We need hope when all is not well, and we aren’t sure that there is a way forward.
Last year I spent every Tuesday evening working with a grief support group in Wethersfield, Connecticut. This group was full of people who had suffered the tragedy of losing a loved one. Some had lost children, others spouses, and others parents. Whatever the loss, everyone who came to this group was looking for the same thing: hope. They were looking for some indication that things would get better. They wanted reassurance that they wouldn’t always be stuck at the bottom of the pit of grief.
The woman who organized and ran these groups, very intentionally asked those who were further along in their grief work to continue to come to the group. She knew that those who were newly grieved needed to be able to see that in a year or two or three things would look different. Sure those who were three years or more out from their loss still felt sad some times. Sure those who had been around the group for a while still missed their loved ones. But, they also still enjoyed life. The newly grieved needed to see this in order to find some hope to hang on to.
Sometimes I think this is the point of God coming in the world as the baby Jesus. It is to remind us that in the midst of all our pain and suffering, God loves us and there is hope. We are not alone. We haven’t been abandoned. God is with us always.
Suzannah Rohman
Last year I spent every Tuesday evening working with a grief support group in Wethersfield, Connecticut. This group was full of people who had suffered the tragedy of losing a loved one. Some had lost children, others spouses, and others parents. Whatever the loss, everyone who came to this group was looking for the same thing: hope. They were looking for some indication that things would get better. They wanted reassurance that they wouldn’t always be stuck at the bottom of the pit of grief.
The woman who organized and ran these groups, very intentionally asked those who were further along in their grief work to continue to come to the group. She knew that those who were newly grieved needed to be able to see that in a year or two or three things would look different. Sure those who were three years or more out from their loss still felt sad some times. Sure those who had been around the group for a while still missed their loved ones. But, they also still enjoyed life. The newly grieved needed to see this in order to find some hope to hang on to.
Sometimes I think this is the point of God coming in the world as the baby Jesus. It is to remind us that in the midst of all our pain and suffering, God loves us and there is hope. We are not alone. We haven’t been abandoned. God is with us always.
Suzannah Rohman