“Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” Romans 8:20-21
I am unpacking boxes and sorting stuff as I make a move into a new place this week. MOVING IS A PAIN! I blurt it out loud on numerous occasions when my back is hurting, I am unable to decide whether to throw out or keep something, and to top it off, I am lugging my clothes to the car and the blouses fall off the hangers.
I am keenly aware that moving is not only a pain in the rear in transporting things from one place to another. It’s also a pain in the heart. Being uprooted from a place where I’ve flourished, even when the change is embraced and anticipated, is unsettling.
I looked up the definition of loss: “Failure to keep or continue to have something.”
I count my losses in my move~ loss of my bearings about where the grocery store and cheaper gas station are located, loss of a quick visit to my mom who lives a couple miles away, loss of praying with a roomie who is dear to me, loss of a walk around the corner to a beautiful park and other location-specific experiences.
I am realizing loss always enters our stories. Whether changes in jobs, homes, relationships, finances, children, spouses, health. . . there’s usually special somethings or someones no longer accessible like before. Not that God doesn’t provide in good and beautiful ways in every season of life. He certainly can and does. I am eager to live in close proximity to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Hershey Park at my new place.
Loss feels so unnatural because we are not created to experience it. Walking with God in the garden, Adam and Eve originally resided in an eternal state of knowing God by sight and by their senses- possessing unbroken fellowship forever. Because sin and rebellion entered the world through the fall, we face loss when our circumstances disrupt us, our spiritual enemy targets us, and what we see flat out contradicts what we know to be true.
In this broken world, we are not able to keep the security and sense of knowing we are designed for. We will be disrupted, disappointed, and disillusioned. Losses remind us of the GAIN of the unfathomable hope we have: Continually knowing God face-to-face in eternity and savoring His glory with the other saints
In the mean time, how do you and I move through the losses of this life?
We befriend Loss when she enters our stories. We ask her to open our eyes to know God and those around us more deeply. We sit with her and grieve over what or who we lose. We listen to her as she beckons us to walk by faith and not by sight and to let go of what has been or could have been. We discover with her purpose in our pain. We hold her hand, smiling with her at the future because Our Heavenly Father embraces us in every season, struggle, and celebration. ~Laura
