FEBRUARY 13
Grief dares us to love once more.
—TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMSIt would be easy, wouldn’t it, to somehow close down the
valves of loving so we couldn’t be hurt this much again?
No, it wouldn’t. It’s probable that for a while we will feel
a kind of numbness, a recoil against the blow we have
suffered. But without the love of friends and family, we’d
never make it through this time of grieving.
And love calls to love. We are summoned from our grief
by love, and we will be healed by love.
But we will not be healed if we don’t participate, if we
don’t answer the love of others by our love for them.
Yes, it takes courage to risk loving again. It is the courage
to be most fully human. It is the courage that affirms the
love we shared with the one we have lost.
When the time comes, I will be ready.