Healing After Loss

APRIL 4

Faith is the centerpiece of a connected life. It allows us to

live by the grace of invisible strands. It is a belief in a wisdom

superior to our own. Faith becomes a teacher in the absence

of fact.

—TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS

We would like to know, wouldn’t we? Or think we would.
Experiences like the loss of a loved one fill our lives with
questions about the nature of life beyond death. What is the
nature of God? What will be our experience of God—and
our loved one—after we ourselves die?
Of course these are unanswerable questions. But we have
to do something with our longing to know, with our yearn-
ing to continue a relationship with our loved one.
Blessed are those for whom faith can absorb the shock of
not knowing, who can trust in “a wisdom superior to our
own,” in “the grace of invisible strands.”
Perhaps all of us, whatever our faith tradition, can extend
our sense of trust into the unknown world. Perhaps it seems
a risk. But it may help us profoundly. And—unlike some
risks—it won’t do us any harm!

Unknowing, I will trust the unknown.