Hey. It's been a little while.
I wanted to chat a little bit about loss today. I'm not talking about actual death. I'm talking about loss. Loss of a dream, a friendship, an idea, a hope, an expectation. The kind of loss that catches you off guard as you realize, often times later, that this loss has occurred.
This last few years has seen all types of loss. The ones that hurt most are the dreams that we have for our loved ones. We think life is going to turn out one way and then, WACK, it flips over on its back and turns out nothing like you thought it would.
The year since our sweet girl was missing and came home has been the GREATEST year of loss yet! Loss of friendships, communities, church family, and more. People have walked away, checked out, disregarded and just left us behind.
I'm not sure why???
When a tragedy strikes someone people come out in herds to help for the first couple of weeks. Then, over the next few weeks most people disappear again. It's heartbreaking. The tragedy doesn't just go away for the family that it happened to. It takes months, often times years to move on. We have yet to be able to move on because we are still facing a trial.
The steadfast stay. They are the string that knit us together. They are faithful and unwavering.
We are grateful!
I just want you to know that people need people. We need each other after the fireworks have passed. We need love and encouragement, hugs, phone calls, and relationship. It's critical to our well being. All of us!
Please do not walk away so fast. Stay a while longer and build relationships. Meet for dinner. Grab a coffee. Go to the beach.
Just don't leave.
The greatest gift we can give one another is to stay. Stay as long as it takes. Sometimes that's a lifetime.
