Thursday, July 15

So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.
—Job 2:13

When we are grieving, help often comes by way of the mundane. Food must be prepared, work done, and life lived. But even as we go on with the regular round of life's thoughts, demands, and activities, we are feeling all the while that a strange presence has invaded our being.  

We are unprepared for this strange presence and certainly ignorant of how best to communicate with it. Sometimes it seems ghost-like—appearing and disappearing in our hearts at will. At other times, it hovers heavily over our souls, and consumes all our attention. 

But occasionally, our throat relaxes and we accept the presence as a new companion on our journey. We know that this presence will remain and we must learn to live with it. Over time our responses will be less syncopated, less stilted, less serious, and through the presence of grief we will find new ways of being. We may even discover that we can embrace our new companion as no longer a stranger, but a friend.

O God, when grief and sorrow seem to want to steal my life away, let your graceful presence float over my hurting soul. In time help me greet my grief as my friend.

These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2003.