Just over one year ago – November 16, 2020 to be exact, I started this blog…At Peace. The first blog post coincided with the U.S. approaching 250,000 pandemic deaths.
I listed seven major losses that people were experiencing at that time… a significant number of additional people still are. I wrote that many people were not acknowledging their losses, and the losses of others. Hopefully, this past year has pushed people to talk with others about what they are experiencing. But, I’m not sure this has really worked its way throughout the culture.
I said then, and I will say again, non-judgmental listening from others can help bereaved people begin to reconcile their losses. I still believe that.
The virus continues to infect us. One year later from the number of deaths approaching 250,000, we are now approaching 800,000 deaths in our country, and a new variant has appeared. Think about that for a moment: ……………………………………………………………………………….
I’ve written about two blog posts each month since last November. I plan to continue writing At Peace at that pace and hope the few people who land here every so often might at the very least, think about these comments and occasionally find something helpful.
When our first daughter was an infant and could not sleep, I walked her around the apartment, holding her on my shoulder, singing the first stanza of Silent Night over and over again. Even in July, it was still Silent Night. Maybe it was my imagination, but every time I got to the “sleep in heavenly peace” lyric the second time around… she was asleep. In the midst of so very much loss and corresponding loss of sleep across the nation, my prayer this month is for the bereaved to find peace. May your songs, your loved ones, your faith community or whatever works for you lead you to be “At Peace” this holiday season.
At Peace 