Finding Courage to Hold Everything in Love

The Way of Rest,  Finding Courage to Hold Everything in Love. by Jeff Foster.

When a loved One Passes

By Jeff Foster

When a loved one passes, do not worry. Weep, wail, scream, yes, honor their memory, but do not worry.  They haven’t gone anywhere, strictly speaking.  They have simply lost location and time.  You can no longer pin them down, say, “There they are,” find them in their materiality, or seek them in your personal world.  But you see, they were never tied to their bodies in the first place.  Their arms, their legs, their brain, their fingers, their blood, their kidneys, their intestines—these were not the things that defined them. You loved the physical, yes, you were attached to it; you expected it to continue; it was familiar to you; but it was not all of your love.

You are being called now to remember a deeper love, a universal love, a love that is not attached to form, a love that knows no bounds.  A love that does not flee into past and future, but remains so very present as you go about your days.   A love that does not depend on word nor place, that follows you wherever you go, that is inseparable from your very own presence, that whispers in your ear late at night….  “I am here”.

Do not search for your loved one in time or space, friend: do not reach for them: you will find them absent, your hands empty.  They are closer than all that.  It will take awhile to readjust to their formlessness, of course.  You will be called to let go of dreams, yes: and there will be much pain to be felt, much grief to know with courage and willingness. Get ready to break open for love.. But, oh the joy of discovering your loved one right where you left them!  And the excitement of a relationship shattering open into the infinite.

Know they cannot leave you. Know they never will!

For they are in your presence, and you in theirs!