Love
Healing After Loss, by Martha Whitmore Hickman
Love...bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. - 1Corinthians 13:7-8
What a truckload of responsibility and potential for pain we take on when we love another human being: all the dangers of misunderstanding, of betrayal, of indifference, and ultimately, of loss. To more than balance those dangers, we feel the possibility of life made rich through sharing experiences with another - of physical and spiritual warmth and communion, of enriched understanding and common achievement, of a stay against loneliness and isolation. Most of us have no trouble opting for love. But then, to have invested so much of our life's energy in the life of a loved one -- and then to find that loved one gone! Is it any wonder we are, for a time, laid low?
But the love we have shared helps form the strength to deal with loss. The hope and joy we have known help us believe in the possibility of hope and joy again. And the intensity of grief mirrors the intensity of shared love, which will continue to beam through our life, to illumine and nourish all that we do and are.
Love never ends. Never.
Love...bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. - 1Corinthians 13:7-8
What a truckload of responsibility and potential for pain we take on when we love another human being: all the dangers of misunderstanding, of betrayal, of indifference, and ultimately, of loss. To more than balance those dangers, we feel the possibility of life made rich through sharing experiences with another - of physical and spiritual warmth and communion, of enriched understanding and common achievement, of a stay against loneliness and isolation. Most of us have no trouble opting for love. But then, to have invested so much of our life's energy in the life of a loved one -- and then to find that loved one gone! Is it any wonder we are, for a time, laid low?
But the love we have shared helps form the strength to deal with loss. The hope and joy we have known help us believe in the possibility of hope and joy again. And the intensity of grief mirrors the intensity of shared love, which will continue to beam through our life, to illumine and nourish all that we do and are.
Love never ends. Never.
Replies
I feel my angel Deanna\'s love 1,000 times more when I lost her phyisical presence. Yes, REAL Love never dies.
Thanks Joana for sharing this,
Hugs,
Fran
Love NEVER ends!!!
\"the love we have shared helps form the strength to deal with loss\" this is the essence of and the KEY to transforming grief into strength and compassion and a whole buncha new love. : )
Love to you my friend. thanks for writing!!!!!!! (I MEAN IT!)
xoxo Sarah
How beautiful. I\'m feeling down right now and this thought helps get me up a little. Thank you Terry
Very beautiful. Thank you for the words to think about. I am forever grateful for the 33 years that I had my precious son. Hugs, Belinda
Love is all there is....everything else is just window dressing. The more our hearts ache with the loss - the more we need that compassion and caring from each other. Thank you for the reminder. Love Suzzanne
Her book was given to me in those first days of my fresh loss. It was the only one I could read because it was a page a day and written by a mother who is walking this path. I am forever grateful for her words then when I took my first steps and today when I read what touched you. Thank YOU!
In gratitude for the LOVE that will never end and for our relationships with our beloved children which lasts forever.
Love and hugs,
Joanie
That\'s one of my very favorite Bible passages ~ indeed, Love never does end ~ how can it ~ so pure and just being ...
Thank you for sharing this moving, insightful journal with us!
Sending much love and hugs of peace and rejoicing ~ Debbie
Joanna that is the very NUT of it! And I love nuts. Seriously, that is what it all comes down to. Love and the goodness we have known in loving relationships sustains us through the weary teary days. I\'m borrowing this to share with my hospice support group that\'s starting in 2 weeks... it just says what I want to say, so well.
All love, big hugs,
Sarah
I just read your journal. Thank you for sharing - it really touched me.
Hoping for you peace on this day.
Nell
Thank you. The more we love a person, the more we hurt when we lose that person.
Hugs, Marlene
Well, you\'ve said it all, now. Nothing to add, \'cept, so glad to be your sister of the heart, I\'m honored. love you, Abby
A brilliant journal. The words from Corinthians I put in a frame after I lost Catherine.
Love and hugs,
Sue