Strength is Found in the Quiet

Grieving during the Christmas season is hard. My pain is magnified. It seems everywhere I turn, there are joyful people singing, or shopping, or baking, or celebrating. They are rushing to the gathering of friends or family. The pace is quickened, traffic is gnarled, and I become in a frantic state of "rush" to try to keep up with the world.

But I can't.

In reality, this is just the opposite of what we should be doing - especially when we are grieving. You see, we grievers need all the strength we can muster. We are exhausted from the pain of our sorrow. It is often hard to put one foot in front of the other. But we know we must. And so we try. But true healing comes for a griever when we allow our self the quiet. Strength is found in the quiet.
As Streams in the Desert says, "For a lake to reflect the heavens on its surface, it must be calm."

And so where do I find "calm" during the season of hustling and bustling?
 - early morning walks in my garden
 - a church sanctuary in the middle of the week
 - a star-filled sky
 -  Ave Maria sung by Jewell or Josh Groban
 - a fireside chat  with a friend over a late afternoon cup of coffee
 - an Advent daily devotional
 - Christmas stories reread from years ago
 - Stratford Hall Ginger Cookies - mixed and rolled in sugar
 - a heart that can weep and smile and remember
 - watching for someone who needs a dollar handed to them
 - kind, thought-out  words
 - Jesus, who set the example of "going up on a mountainside by himself (Matthew 14:23)

It takes work to find the calm. Sometimes we too must, go up a mountain all alone.
There we find it.