Finding Hope

Like a firestorm blazing through a forest, the grief of losing a loved one seems to leave nothing but ashes in its path. The hope and meaning in life appear to vanish. Hope can feel as if it’s been swept away with the storm. But our very existence depends on hope, so we must look for it intensely. Come with me in search of hope as I share with you an inspirational reading on “Finding Hope” I read at a national conference in Cincinnati this summer.

When hurricane Andrew swept onto South Florida in 1992, it left Miami-Dade County looking like a war zone. One of the things that hurt to look at was the trees. . . those that had not been uprooted, torn apart, or blown away were completely defoliated. There were naked skeletons of trees upon the barren landscape. An area that is, despite its metropolitan design and large population, usually tropical green and lush with foliage now seemed to be nothing but broken concrete and shattered glass. Even the tree trunks wore that dead gray look that offered no color, nor comfort.

Then as the trees began to “come back” we realized it would literally take years for the damaged areas to return to the lush green we had grown accustomed to, and we knew it would never again be the same in Miami-Dade County. But, as the sun broke through in places that had always been in the shade before, something new took place.

That winter, there was an abundance of wildflowers . . . beautiful bright flowers covered the ground in places that even grass would not grow before. Experts were amazed, as flowers that had not grown here for generations suddenly bloomed in abundance. . . and flowers that had always bloomed here suddenly were everywhere, apparently, the stripped trees had allowed sunlight into places that it had not touched for so long, even touching on dormant seeds that had lain in the dirt for years.

It struck me that grief is like that. As we look at the devastation left behind by our loss, we realize it will never be the same again. As we feel emptied out and stripped of the hopes and dreams we had held on to, we find ourselves laid bare to the elements. . . exposed in a way we have not been before.

But just like the aftermath of a hurricane, as we struggle to pick up the pieces and resume some sort of life. . . a different life. . . we find glimpses of hope- tenderness for suffering we may never have been sensitive to, appreciation for life, for love and for the blessings we used to take for granted. And we find flowers- friends who we may never otherwise have known.