For the Day of Mourning
Ask
What are you grieving, my dear? Big or small—lay out the whole of it all. No tear goes unnoticed.
Do
Food has a beautiful way of making us feel less lonely in our pain or in our isolation or in our grief. My friend, Kendall Vanderslice, founded the nonprofit, Edible Theology, founded on the belief that deep healing and connection takes place best over food and at a table. Kendall says, “Every time I bake, I am reminded that death is necessary for resurrection. The tartness of sourdough is a sharp reminder that when wheat, or dough, or beloved friends die, by God’s mercy they bear much fruit.” Click here to listen to Kitchen Meditations with Kendall Vanderslice, stories of how God meets us at the kitchen and at the table. And who knows, maybe you will bake something delicious today.
Pray
God, there’s pain now. Awaken me to what it is, that I might lean into it a little closer. Help me see what it is, and understand a little more about the nature of what is hurting—in my mind, in my body. Give me words for it, that I might see a way through it, or around it. Give me courage to somehow live here, right where I am, but also wide awake to where I might bravely go. O God of all compassion, help me, lead me. Amen.