Daily Devotion | January 28, 2021

A Time for Everything

by Shelly Erickson

For everything, there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven.

Our kids came home last week. It is the first time in over a year that all four of us have been together, and it was sweet. We cooked together, drank wine, played cards, shared stories, laughed, and at the end of our time together, as we stood in the kitchen sharing a few more memories, we cried.

After 26 years of raising our family in a home and neighborhood we love, Greg and I decided to sell and move to a new area of Fargo that we have been dreaming about for years. As excited as Greg and I are about our new home and neighborhood, it is bittersweet. Our kids are happy for us, but they are also sad about this goodbye. Goodbye to the only home they have ever known. A home where a whole lifetime of memories have been made and love was shared.

Endings and goodbyes are hard. So often, when we experience them, we want to ignore the sadness or push it down deep, or busy ourselves. However, grieving has an important purpose spiritually. There is no need to be afraid of grief and sadness because it is part of life and God is with us in it.

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

What has ended for you that might need to be grieved and then released so you can experience a new beginning? Health? Job? Hopes? Dreams? 

I love this prayer, by Arianne Braithwaite Lehn from Ash and Starlight – prayers for the chaos and grace of daily life. 

When I'm Grieving a Goodbye

Compassionate One,
Be with me in my goodbyes.
When I'm asked to open my hands and 
release what I've held-
held tightly-
place your peace between the fingers.
Put your comfort in
the cracks and crevices of my heart.
Use my falling tears 
as nourishment for
this ground of grief,
bearing fruit for
a new season
also promising sweetness.

Amen.

 

There is a time for everything and Lord, we ask you to help us open our hands in goodbyes so that we can release. We thank you for the gift of release and the opportunity it brings for beautiful new beginnings.

The Erickson family will grieve, and then we will move forward carrying that ember of family love to our new home…bearing fruit for a new season and enjoying the sweetness.

Peace,

-- Shelly

 

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