Hope That Holds On Through Grief

“That ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13

My son, my daughter, the loss you carry hurts in a way that pretty words can't fix. I haven't come to rush you toward getting over it, or to tell you that your longing should have already passed. Grief has its own timing, and I honor every tear you still shed for the one who's gone.

But I also want to remind you that you don't cry like someone with no hope at all. There's a difference between the pain of absence and the despair of someone who believes everything has ended forever. I promise a reunion, a place where every tear will be wiped away, and that hope doesn't erase today's pain, but it does light the way a little further ahead.

Keep crying when you need to, keep treasuring the memory with tenderness, but don't let your grief completely snuff out the hope I've placed in you. Persevere, holding both things together: the real longing and the real hope. I'm holding your hand through this difficult balance.