Love Never Ends

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Love is the power that binds us together in our relationships with each other. We need that love and we need that connection to others; sometimes more than at other times. We celebrate such love when an anticipated newborn baby arrives and at weddings. But we also desperately need a great deal of love when we experience the loss of someone dear to us. This can be a time of great internal loneliness and exceptional grief. The closer the relationship and the more love in that relationship, the deeper the grief.

When my husband passed away, I can only describe the grief as excruciating agony. I was blessed with people around me who showed me love and physically cared for me through the most intense part of that time. I will always be grateful for their love. I also sought out help. This is especially important as this is a time in every person's life when you are not meant to be alone. No one on all of planet earth seems to be exempt from this type of experience. And everyone gets through it better when they are loved and supported. There are many ways to get the help we need: family, friends, grief support groups, and individual counselling. I think I did all of them!

Grief is difficult. Grief is not something we can put aside or ignore. We must go THROUGH this. But we can start to develop a sense of peace as we travel this part of our journey called life. That journey can be off to a good start when we remind ourselves that although the person whom we loved so dearly is physically gone, their love for us and our love for them will always be there. The love never ends. The love remains forever.

Author of Love, Thank you that in our deepest grief and darkest times, you always provide us with sources of love and comfort. Thank you for the greatest gift – the gift of love that never ends. Amen.



Denise Clark, CLM