Friday, October 25, 2013

Dear God,

How dark does it have to get before a person decides to take their own life?  How far away does the light have to be before someone decides there is no hope?

Upon arriving at the airport where my daughter had flown to help me pack our home and return to Indiana, we got a call about the suicide death of the seventh grade volleyball coach at my granddaughter's school.  Team members, staff, and teens throughout the school are reeling in shock. Known for her smile and love for the kids, no one can believe it.  Yes, there will be an investigation about her hanging but so far police are calling it a suicide.

How, O Lord, do we meaningfully and effectively turn the darkness into the light?  How do we rise from a death sentence and grab hold of the light waiting right before us?  How do we trust you enough to lead us out of the tunnel of death?

If I believe anything it is this:  You are the light that radiates love into the world.  We may not always see evidence of the light in the way in which we are looking for it but it still exists. We were not created out of darkness but out of light.  That light is the power by which we can rise up in faith.  I believe that because faith must work to bring light out of the darkness or it is worthless, useless, and false.

Right now hundreds impacted by this death will have to look darkness in the face.  But if they look close enough they will see the light as they reach out to one another, as they think about the gifts given to them by this women, and as they celebrate love and friendship in the midst of this terrible darkness. Although her death has wrapped a blanket of darkness around those who know and love her, still the light will not fail to shine.  This can be a time of great light as together they walk the valley of the shadow of death.

Shine your light
upon us,
O God;
remind us
to trust
and to keep
on walking.
Your light
is here,
there, and everywhere.
Help us not
give up hope
but turn
to hope
to find you.
Thank you
for the manifestation
of your
living presence
in the light.

Love always, Andrea