Christian Philospher Writes About Losing His 25 Year Old Son

A Christian philosopher, Wolterstorff wrote several scholarly books, but this memoir charted his grief and questioning in the first year after his twenty-five-year old son Eric died in a mountain-climbing accident. (From Lament For A Son)

The world looks different now. The pinks have become purple, the yellows brown. Mountains now wear crosses on their slopes. Hymns and psalms have reordered themselves so that lines I scarcely noticed now leap out: "He will not suffer thy foot to stumble." Photographs that once evoked the laughter of delighted reminiscence now cause only pain. Why are the photographs of him as a little boy so incredibly hard for me to look at? This one here, holding a fish longer than he is tall, six year old? Why is it easier to look at him as a grownup? The pleasure of seeing former students is colored by the realization that they were his friends and that wile they thrive he rots.

Something is over. In the deepest levels of my existence something is finished, done. My life is divided into before and after. A friend of ours whose husband died young said it mean for her that her youth was over. My youth was already over. But I know what she meant. Something is over.

Especially in places where he and I were together this sense of something being over washes over me. It happen not so much at home, but other places. A moment in our lives together of special warmth and intimacy and vividness, a moment when I specially prized him a moment of hope and expectancy and openness to the future; I remember the moment. But instead of line of memory leading up to his life in the present, they all enter a place of cold inky blackness and never come out. The book slams shut.The story stops, it doesn't finish. The future closes, the hopes get crushed. And now instead of those shiny moments being things we can share together in delighted memory, I, the survivor, have to bear them alone.

So it is with all memories of him. They all lead into that blackness. It's all over, over, over. All I can do is remember him. I can't experience him. The person to whom these memories are attached is no longer here with me, standing up. He's only in my memory now, not in my life. Nothing new can happen between us. Everything is sealed tight, shut in the past. I'm still here. I have to go on. I have to start over. But this new start is so different from the first. Then I wasn't carrying this load, this thing that's over.

Sometimes I think that happiness is over for me. I look at photos of the past and immediately comes the thought: that's when we were still happy. But I can still laugh, I  guess that isn't quite it. Perhaps what's over is happiness as the fundamental tone of my existence. Now sorrow is that.

Sorrow is no longer the islands but the sea.

GRIEF and CHRISTMAS...a difficult time

Having spent the last few days so bluntly reminded that Christmas is a difficult season for parents grieving the loss of a child, it struck me that the journey along the path of grief can lead us right to the birth of a very special Christmas child. This meditation/prayer/observation is a written reminder of the reason for the season. -Marsha

Even though I don’t have all my presents wrapped, even though my husband still has more lights to hang on our house – this year I am especially grateful for Christmas. In the wake of my daughter's death, this one thing I know, now more than ever – we need Christmas.

When I say that, I don’t mean that we need all the parties and packages. Not the trees and the ornaments, the wreaths and the Santa display – as beautiful as they are.

I don’t mean we need wrapping and the giving – though it is a wonderful way to show your loved ones how grateful we are for them.

When I say we need Christmas what I mean is that we need this event, this remembrance, this reminder of Jesus’ life – the advent, the arrival, of God with us – we need Christmas because in times like this, when the realities of life have cut us so deeply, Christmas answers questions.

Losing a child often results in a very close evaluation of a person's spiritual beliefs. Christmas represents the prime example of our own child's spirit stepping into the world and shining a miraculous light in our lives, like the story of Jesus' birth.

Jesus’ birth – The light and promise of everlasting love and life, made flesh. His life story and His promise that God loves us, forgives us, and promises that our soul's journey will never end.

Jesus’ birth in the manger, poor and alone, answers the question, “Has God forgotten me?” No, God has not forgotten. There is no place too far, too hard to reach, for the light of love to shine on you.

Jesus’ birth – his life of healing and teaching and service, answers the question, “Will God leave me broken?” No, we have the choice to select our path. Whether in this life, or in the life to come, our spirit will continue to grow. And we will rejoin our children.

Jesus’ birth – his sacrifice, his death, his victory over death, over darkness, answers the question, “Is there hope, and release, and rescue?” Yes, the way to life as intended for all of us – life of peace, joy, for all time, life lived with faith in seeing our loved ones again allows us to celebrate.

No matter what our circumstances, whether we’re ready or not – Christmas comes, because we are meant to remember. There is much more to our existence than this earthly journey.

Christmas represents the light for hope, for life beyond this broken world.