Linger in the Ashes

Dear Erica. 1987-2011

Today I'm holding space and sitting in the ashes as I remember Christ's suffering and the suffering of a dear one that ended two years ago today. And the suffering that lingers for those that knew and loved her. 

I know the end of both stories...I know the hope that peeks just around the corner...but for today I embrace the suffering and the pain and the loss and I will not rush through it. 

The suffering matters. It is real and it MEANS something. And I will give it the time and space it requires. 

Allow yourself time to linger in the suffering experienced on and around the cross today. And if you are experiencing suffering of any kind...allow yourself to linger in it. And if you know of someone suffering today in anyway...linger with them. Quietly, without words of advice or encouragement. Just feel their suffering with them and sit in the ashes alongside them. 

I'll be in the ashes with some of the dearest ones of my heart today. And there Christ will be also.

Amen.