Good afternoon, Chaverim/Chaverot,
It has been another painful, grief-filled week with yet another mass shooting (this time in my home town, Buffalo, NY), more innocent lives lost and families torn apart, fear and hatred running unimpeded through our streets, stampeding through our communities, literally everywhere, impossible to deny, avoid or out run…
So, I was grateful last night when I stumbled upon quote that felt like a hand reaching out of the darkness to pull me/us back from the brink, back toward the light.
Here is today’s Gratitude Thought in the Midst of a Pandemic:
If grief can be a doorway to love,
Robin Wall Kimmerer
then let us weep for the world we are breaking apart
so we can love it back to wholeness again.”
I am not sure that I had ever thought or recognized that grief can be a “doorway to love”. But, as I read this quote and thought more about it, it seemed clear that working our way through the stages of grief must, of necessity, include processing memories of lost loved ones. And, as we keep the memories of loved ones alive as we grieve, we give ourselves the opportunity for those memories to become “for [us] a blessing”, a deep source of love, and, eventually, a pathway to healing and wholeness.
So, as we continue to grieve for this seemingly endless loss of so many precious lives here at home and around the world, may our tears open those “doorways to love” and our weeping “love our broken world back to wholeness again”. Ken y’hi ratzon.
Love and Shabbat Shalom to all,
Marci
