Friday's Faith - A Simple Holiday

Friday's Faith

A Simple Holiday

"Sorrow removes your attention from the active life and focuses it on the things that matter most. When you are going through a period of extreme loss or pain, you reflect on the people who mean the most to you instead of on personal success; and the deep design of your life, instead of distracting gadgets and entertainments. You may be more open to the beauty of your world as a relief from distress. Beauty is always present, but ordinarily you may not notice it because of your priorities or your absorption in other things."

~Psychotherapist and former Catholic monk Thomas Moore

Tell me, how did you spend your Thanksgiving holiday this year? Did your holiday plans work for you this year? Did they help you in your grief, or did they complicate your grief? Let us know what your experience was like. The following poem tells how I spent mine, and how that worked out for me...

Thanksgiving presented us with the gift of unseasonably warm weather. Tommy and I had already declined all holiday festivities~we just couldn't be around other people on a holiday, and we knew it. So we took the opportunity to do a long-overdue chore (I'm sure many of you child-loss parents are very familiar with this Grief dilemma). We chose to bypass a big Thanksgiving Dinner and decided instead to work on painting the exterior of our house (mostly trim-work) before the cold of winter hits.

I had a melt-down of grief on Wednesday night, so I prayed as I awakened on this Thanksgiving morning that God would give me a mindless task to do so that I wouldn't be too fixated on my pain. Though I am exhausted, the house-painting-chore did the trick! I was able to focus diligently on the task at hand but still have a sweet time being quiet and allowing praise songs to come to mind as I meditated on God and so many of His blessings to us. Then I wrote this poem about how I chose to spend this holiday.

A Simple Holiday

Spending a day focused on what matters most,

A simple holiday with God as my Host,

Brings joy to my otherwise grieving heart

For silence and solitude strengthen my heart.

Hearing from Him brings Light to Death's dark ~

Communing with God transports me from grief so stark...

Into His loving, radiating warmth!

Away from festive outings where crowds swarm,

I am free to grieve, and yet with Him near,

My heart can find reprieve as His voice I hear.

Thanksgiving Day spent with hubby at home ~

A beautiful day with God's tenderness shown!

Picture: Norman Rockwell's painting from the cover of The Country Gentleman, 12/1/1917: "Cousin Reginald Catches the Thanksgiving Turkey"

Poem - A Simple Holiday - Angie Bennett Prince 11/25/10

Wednesday’s Woe - Holidays…or Hell-A-Days?

Wednesday’s Woe

Holidays…or Hell-A-Days?

Is the loss of our child our Garden of Gethsemane where Satan comes to attack us at the point of our deepest vulnerability?

******

…Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One.

~Ephesians 6:16 NIV

******

Holidays Or Hell/A/Days?

The Heavy Presence of Your Absence

transmutes

Holidays-Where-Families-Thrive

into

Hell/A/Days-to-Just-Survive

******

“Be still…”

12/24/09

Two solid weeks of spiritual attacks,

anxiety attacks, then mind attacks

leave me exhausted in these holidays...

Holding onto God—in that I'm not lax—

just battling Satan and his horrid ways.

Baby step by baby step, exercise

and sleep. Eat well. Take vitamins. Breathe in

God; breathe out toxins. Get sunshine. Be wise.

Write feelings. Talk to God. His Word, weave in.

Cancel holidays. Take care of spirit.

Minimize any toxins coming in…

“God, hold me close; soothe fear in my spirit.

Cleanse me of known or any unknown sin.

Bind Satan in Jesus’ name.”

Meditate.

“Holy Spirit, Comforter, navigate

my grief, my path, my life into Your will.

Center my spirit in You.”

…Then,

“Be still,

And know that I am God and that I’ll heal.”

“Today is Christmas Eve—Come Lord: Peace…be still.

Here’s my heart; for Your kingdom, take…and seal.”

******

The reticent volcano keeps

His never slumbering plan;

Confided are his projects pink

To no precarious man.

If nature will not tell the tale

Jehovah told to her,

Can human nature not survive

Without a listener?

Admonished by her buckled lips

Let every babbler be.

The only secret people keep

Is Immortality.

~Emily Dickenson

It’s such a little thing to weep,

So short a thing to sigh;

And yet by trades the size of these

We men and women die!

~Emily Dickenson

******

Last of all I want to remind you that

your strength must come from the Lord’s mighty power within you.

Put on all of God’s armor (truth, God’s approval, testimony of God’s work within you, faith , salvation, God’s Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God) so that you will be able to stand safe against all strategies and tricks of Satan.

For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies—the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.

So use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over you will be standing up.

~Ephesians 6:10-13 TLB (insert, mine)

TLB = The Living Bible

Poem – Holidays into Hell/A/Days – Angie Bennett Prince – 11/21/09

Poem – “Be Still…” – Angie Bennett Prince – 12/24/09