Learning As We Go - Growing in Unity Group

There are some experiences in life that most of us would never consciously ask for. Losing my younger brother to tragedy just 2 days before Christmas is one. And yet, here I am. Here we are.

For years I have told people that the human experience is about learning to master the art of holding grief in one hand and joy in the other. That has been my experience and it is no different now. The only difference is how I am holding grief in a way that I haven't since my grandfather died when I was just shy of 4.

For over 45 years, I have held grief in a very patterned way. I confront what is causing me grief head on. I typically feel pain all over my body, get angry, and then hide until the anger condenses into a more manageable emotion. But this time I have just been crying a lot and receiving hugs. I am still writing, which is my default method of processing. But only after checking in with my family and others who are also grieving alongside me. And something about it feels right. It's like a blessing to allow myself to weep. And it is through doing so that I have felt a level of grace that I have never known this intimately.

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about asking "God" to remove what he called "a thorn in the flesh". Three times he asked and ultimately received the knowledge that Divine strength is realized in human weakness and that grace is sufficient. Now, I know that this is not something that many of us would like to hear. But, I have personally chosen to embrace it after decades of being "too strong". In fact, I chose this passage as my ordination scripture so that it could be a reminder for how I did ministry.

How I chose to look at it was, where my strength ends is where the strength of Divine Mind begins. In an individualistic society that often teaches us to be ashamed of our "weaknesses", I wanted to know the limitations of my ego was not the limitations of Source.

In the Fillmore Metaphysical interpretation of the New Testament, Eric Butterworth interprets the "strength made perfect in weakness" this way.

And later, where Paul concludes, "For when I am weak, then am I strong", Butterworth adds, "There is an allness in every illness."

Right now, like many folk all over the world, I am very mindful of how fragile every moment is in time. But, I am grateful to also know that the reality of who we are is eternal and that when eternity touches time, we are re-minded (reconnected to Divine Mind) that all is well.

And one added grace is that I am grieving in a community of folks who are seeking to know more of who we really are in Spirit. I am comforted in knowing that I can be honest here about the ways I make meaning of my brothers death. The sufficiency of grace comes in all sorts of packages. Thank for being here.