Five Minute Friday is writing for 5 minutes and no editing. We get the word and write with abandon. Feel free to join us or read others at www.lisajobaker.com
This week’s word: IMAGINE
“I can’t even imagine.”
The sentence repeated with different pitches and flinching eyes as people held back the tears.
No one had more words. Plenty had less.
And in the inability to imagine the pain of parents losing another child tragically there is a well up of anger, doubt, confusion, and grief.
We knew how we felt a few years ago but we perhaps had never learned how they felt. And now it was thrust upon them again.
And what of the teacher, who had lost his life a few weeks before and the school mate who died days before? How now could we even imagine?
This. This is what I imagine. A wrestle that lasts for hours and years with a God who does not cease being because we can’t testify. I imagine time failing to heal wounds but a God who could be our only chance at not bleeding out soul and life. I imagine that perhaps now rocks need to cry out because our weeping scrapes our voice away.
But I also imagine today.
And so I live.
Not in fear, not in glee, not in refusal, and not in giddiness.
I simply live.
And this. This I imagine too. That all of life is worship. Even that which I can not put to words or ever care to endure.
Serve. Weep. Love. Hope.
I imagine we have no other way to rise.
Wow. Nasreen you’ve put words to our mystery here on earth. So hard to understand so many things. So yes, we have today. And we have God, unchangeable through it all…somehow.
LikeLike
Elise, the somehow will always allude us, I imagine. But for the todays we do have, let us live, eh?
LikeLike
I sit here looking at this blank box trying to think of something to say and nothing, nothing seems at all meaningful. So all I will say is what others before me have said: I will pray for this family. I will weep for them. And I will wait with them for the time when the tears will be wiped away.
LikeLike
Susan, I weep too. I didn’t even think I could write a post. And I didn’t for days. For the words we manage to find and all those that get lost in our throat or never make it to our fingertips typing, we do imagine and we hope. Thanks for being here with us.
LikeLike
This. Just this: “Serve. Weep. Love. Hope.
I imagine we have no other way to rise. ”
Amen.
LikeLike
Amen. We will rise.
And Lisa-Jo, the space you give so many to share their stories, past and present, truly does create a community that keeps the rocks silent. Thank you!
LikeLike
This is so beautiful and just truth. Although I have not lost a child and truly cannot imagine that loss, I have lost my husband and I hear this phrase often. But it is true that looking to heaven is the only way to move through these things.
I will be praying for this family….<3
LikeLike
Vicki, for your loss, may Heaven seem closer each day. For your prayers, much gratitude. Carry on!
LikeLike
This is really good. Thank you for encouraging me to live life right now, regardless of all that is going on around me.
LikeLike
Debi, we all need the reminder to live life well, thanks for joining me in this lesson.
LikeLike
I love the lines, “And so I live. Not in fear, not in glee, not in refusal, and not in giddiness” — because sometimes that is all we can manage. When we are feeling so empty and hollow, sometimes all we can muster up is simply to inhale and exhale, and wait patiently for the Lord Himself to fill the gaps in our being.
LikeLike
Kate, thanks for commenting on this which has become a part of your life. Know your resilience and breathing is not in vain.
LikeLike
I never imagined I would bury a child, but I also never imagined I would survive it either. You are right, Nasreen, we have to remember the day all our tears will be wiped away. I will be praying for this family.
LikeLike
Mary, you are a survivor, tears and all!
Thanks for your prayers.
LikeLike
THank you for writing so beautifully. I wish I could say, I can’t imagine too . . . but we have buried two children – a daughter born still and a 16 year old son. It was just his 25th birthday on Tuesday. But, someday those tears will be wiped away – and what hope and rejoicing there will forever be! I can only imagine! 🙂 Blessings~!
LikeLike
I just re-read, and realize you are in Michigan too. I saw the story of this family on the news, and a friend of mine used to work with the mom and she sent me an e-mail to pray for this family. I cannot imagine having an empty home, void of children – my heart aches for them and will continue to pray for them.
LikeLike
Thanks for caring for our community. I now live in Minneapolis but was in town this past weekend. I taught these beautiful teenagers.
LikeLike
You are courageous. And we do, can, must, imagine what the day will be like when our tears are wiped away. Thank you for allowing my raw grief to plunge into your reality. I have no words that will meet your journey, but have deep care all the same. Shalom.
LikeLike