Comments on Growing Is Beautiful: How The Leaves Sing

@ch...

2011-12-04T12:08:14.895-08:00

@chris: "...not so that our grief may be annihilated, but so that it might be transfigured." Yes. *Yes.* This is a hard thing to figure out, how to hope and look to Him in the grief without invalidating the pain or refusing to really truly acknowledge the losses. Thankfully, I've never struggled to grieve (I can't believe I just expressed gratitude for my grief!) and it's been the most beautiful, life-giving thing this year to find God teaching me how to hope *in the midst of* grief. Because as you've said here, this really does seem the thing that we are most called to in a world so rife with suffering.

Thank you for prayers of grace and hope. May you, too, find Him near and full and life-giving as we celebrate God With Us.

@Ra...

2011-12-04T12:02:32.908-08:00

@Rachel Schober: Yes, dearest one. It *is* all worth it. And what He's going to bring forth from the laying down of your desires? It's going to be beautiful and glorious and oh so full of God. And I count it the sweetest gift to be walking beside you when it happens. I love you more than I can say.

@ti...

2011-12-04T12:00:08.567-08:00

@tinuviel: Yes, I do recall that post of Ann's. This idea of finding hope in the burying--it's been threading through my days these last months and I keep reciting these truths to myself to remind me to lay it all down, no matter how dark the path seems.

And what you've said here, that it doesn't make the grieving easier but makes it possible? Yes. *Yes.* I'm holding onto this.

Thank you, always, for your prayers. I am humbled by your faithful friendship to me, a woman you've never met. May He bless you a hundred times over for the grace you've given to me.

love the photos! thank you too for the thoughts on...

2011-12-04T09:59:21.514-08:00

love the photos! thank you too for the thoughts on grief and hope...i think that in a broken world, sometimes the best, the most spiritually mature, and the most loving thing we can do is to grieve-in-hope and hope-in-grief: God gives us hope, not so that our grief might be annihilated, but so that it might be transfigured.

praying your Advent--the season of hope!--will abound in grace...

yes, breath-taking beauty of Him in your photos......

2011-12-01T14:59:26.255-08:00

yes, breath-taking beauty of Him in your photos...i can hear the harp, too, looking at that tree - amazing.

Those words of grief mixed with hope have often surfaced when I'm faced with any of the many facets of brokenness...but today, I hear them anew thinking of the things I am burying in order to follow along His chosen path...and it is grief. But it is also Hope. Thank you for reminding me that it is all worth it - again.

This is my favorite bit: "..we'll see Him...

2011-12-01T08:21:25.056-08:00

This is my favorite bit:
"..we'll see Him most clearly when we let Him plant all our pieces in the dark of life's soil and wait for the emerging He'll bring."

That reminds me of a post from A Holy Experience in which bulbs are planted. Do you recall that one? Ann made the same point about hope buried in the soil.

Your closing sentences remind me of something else, a quote from the martyred missionary Jim Elliot, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." That doesn't make the giving up and grieving any easier, but perhaps it does make possible what wasn't before.

Grace and peace to you in Jesus, dear one. You remain in my prayers.

@my ...

2011-11-30T20:45:02.512-08:00

@my name is kimberley: Oh, Friend. What joy to share life with you, even if it must be from a distance. My heart soars when you say that you see Him in my photographs--because that is the very reason I take them. To capture Him hidden in all the tiny places we so often overlook and to let others see His beauty, too.

May our Jesus hold you close in these grieving days and may His joy push past all the ache and leave you breathless with wonder.

I love you. And I long to hug your neck. Someday.

i want to cover my walls with your photographs. t...

2011-11-30T19:08:20.185-08:00

i want to cover my walls with your photographs. they are stunning and full of more than just the subject.

oh courtney, they are *so full of Him*.

i'm sitting curled up on my couch while the 2 younger ones watch belle and i can't stop the tears from pouring down as your words touch so tenderly on the hurt that seems to be gaping wide.

thank you, for writing such strength and beauty into your words. for drawing our eyes up to Him and His grace.

you are beautiful, sweet friend.

and now, i've left an equally long comment on your post...

:)

and you and your friendship? one of the many stones on my ebeneezer.

i thank Him daily for you.