tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13080538.post3802507956554191545..comments2023-10-08T07:07:36.538-04:00Comments on Search the Sea: A New YearGannet Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16374279595560691174noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13080538.post-8085081096716515112009-12-22T17:34:58.233-05:002009-12-22T17:34:58.233-05:00A Leaf of Hope
Posted: 21 Dec 2009 10:01 PM PST
“...A Leaf of Hope <br />Posted: 21 Dec 2009 10:01 PM PST<br />“When the dove returned to [Noah] in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Genesis 8:11 NIV <br />An olive leaf. Noah would have been happy to have the bird but to have the leaf! This leaf was more than foliage; this was promise. The bird had brought more than a piece of a tree; it brought hope. For isn’t that what a hope is? Hope is an olive leaf—evidence of dry land after a flood… <br />Don’t we love the olive leaves of life? “It appears the cancer may be in remission.” “I can help you with those finances.” “We’ll get through this together.”<br />What’s more, don’t we love the doves that bring them? When the father walks his son through his first broken heart, he gives him an olive leaf. When the wife of many years consoles the wife of a few months, when she tells her that conflicts come and all husbands are moody and these storms pass, you know what she is doing? She is giving an olive leaf. Max Lucado<br />Thank you for all the leaves I've gotten from you through your blogs.<br />May the hope of the season fill you with peace.<br />AprilAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13080538.post-3890565768093276532009-12-22T16:49:45.209-05:002009-12-22T16:49:45.209-05:00It was a hell of a year for you. Life is so unfair...It was a hell of a year for you. Life is so unfair and cruel. Pain and more pain. Blue Christmas is a new idea to me and I like it. Seems more appropriate than any other now. How many Blue Christmases there will be remains to be seen. But I hope there is more than that ahead for you and yours. And me, too.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14519140951660677172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13080538.post-26335601401688285442009-12-22T16:30:02.837-05:002009-12-22T16:30:02.837-05:00So glad you're using your new voice and that y...So glad you're using your new voice and that you're feeling hopeful as the new year approaches. Healing hugs and prayers continue to flow your way.Carolnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13080538.post-5473194047487518682009-12-22T11:25:49.445-05:002009-12-22T11:25:49.445-05:00I'm so sorry that service was a disappointment...I'm so sorry that service was a disappointment. I think that scripture choice was unfortunate. I would never say that to someone in the midst of a loss. I might say it to myself, carefully, with some measure of hope... but I don't get to say it to anyone else. The expception is when a family asks for it directly for a funeral. They have that right.<br /><br />Peace, friend.Magdalene6127https://www.blogger.com/profile/11036211735489393308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13080538.post-33126444070785496872009-12-22T09:56:17.928-05:002009-12-22T09:56:17.928-05:00Have you read Jean Stairs "Listening for the ...Have you read Jean Stairs "Listening for the Soul"? Lots of excellent stuff in there, but a short section on death and grief is quite good. How as a society we are so uncomfortable with death we rush right through it. <br /><br />You have noticed a shift in yourself...and I notice it in your writing. What tremendous depth you are finding...a new voice emerging/re-emgerging. And that new voice does not take away Josh's death or the ramifications...but it includes them and embraces them.Elaine (aka...Purple) https://www.blogger.com/profile/09439199680556347830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13080538.post-56744933178691033452009-12-22T09:28:15.820-05:002009-12-22T09:28:15.820-05:00I find that if someone has not experienced this lo...I find that if someone has not experienced this loss, this emptiness,this heartache they do not know how to address it and often say dismissive things. They do not realize a bandaid does nothing to help this hurt.<br /><br />The Lord be with you.texsishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10974108705704385163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13080538.post-84177434493567081172009-12-22T06:24:09.513-05:002009-12-22T06:24:09.513-05:00you know me, I love hope. I do not dig reassuranc...you know me, I love hope. I do not dig reassurance. Maybe that is why I love hope. and though there are times I can't imagine things getting worse, I can't guarantee it. so I try to be filled with hope. that is my sermon and I'm sticking to it, for now.Stratozhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10148600260976577216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13080538.post-85105541348697944782009-12-22T01:08:27.366-05:002009-12-22T01:08:27.366-05:00someone seriously used the "all things work t...someone seriously used the "all things work together for good" verse at a Blue Christmas/Longest Night service? I basically refuse to use it...ever...especially not there. I want to believe it, but most of the time my desire is not strong enough to override my reality.<br /><br />I will say that this is the first time I've noticed you using your son's name on this blog. And, as one who struggles with a family who won't mention my mother's name anymore (four years now, and no use of her name at all...sigh), I'm glad to see that. <br /><br />I hope your next year is filled with things as yet unimaginable, and also filled with the voice of One calling out in your wilderness. may there be something like peace.Terihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10838436991138846332noreply@blogger.com