Letting Go

‘Letting Go’ is the theme of Autumn – I like to think the trees sigh as they turn from being dressed in green to reds, yellows and browns.  The sigh is not sad but one of relief having held up heavily laden branches all year – they can now stand proudly baring their real selves.  They take on a mirror image above and below ground.  They are alive though they appear dead.

In my simplistic faith I like to think this image is how God sees us – the roots being before birth, the trunk our life span and the unclothed branches our spiritual afterlife.

Death of a loved one is traumatic and we each take an individual personal journey of mourning and grief.  One never does ‘get over it’ but we learn to live ‘with it’ which entails a new ‘normal’ having finally ‘let go’ of whom we have lost.

In my many years as a bereavement counsellor I have had the privilege of sharing in many a grief process.  Indeed, I have made that journey too myself, many, many times.  It never gets any easier, even with strong faith, celebrating a life, having good memories and placing them in heaven where I believe we will all meet again one day.  Grief, like autumn, is a process that cannot be avoided.  Like trees we have to Let Go and Let God, it is the order of things He has ordained.  Though we don’t always acknowledge or see it, we DO grow through each dark season.  My dear Aunt, who recently met our God, said it was 5 years before she noticed the spring buds of green leaves on the trees after she lost her husband.  It takes time to heal and there is no one and right way or length of time.  God carries us through and puts us down when the process is done. 

May your autumn and winter seasons be a gentle time of reflection and a warming of your soul.