We say we value life. After years of walking people home, sorting what they left, and erasing them from the system, I am no longer convinced most of us mean it. If gratitude only arrives after the next upgrade, it was never the life being cherished. It was the accessories.
Category Archives: Grief and Loss
Twin Tree Project Presents | Angel of Death: The Calling Few Understand (Short Film)
This is the story of a rare and isolating calling: walking people home as an “angel of death.” A testimony of decades spent in the thin places, the cost of obedience, and the quiet turn from resentment to gratitude.
The Author’s Perspective | On Mortality: Witness
Have you ever watched someone pass away? I don’t mean “heard about it later.” Not “gotten the call.” Not “arrived after the fact to sit with the body already still.” I mean actually watched.
Have you been present, sitting there as a body fails in real time? Have you watched the chest rise and fall, then rise less, then not rise at all?
Because I have. And I’ve reached a place in the understanding of my own grief where I genuinely don’t care how uncomfortable it makes people to hear about it. Why? Because it’s coming for all of us… and if you don’t really look at that, you are not actually living.
I Hate July.
There is a version of my father that exists on paper. It lists the facts of him the way facts do, accurately and without warmth. This is not that version. This is the one where he drove a demon out of his daughter’s house without flinching, opened his blue eyes one last time for her and nobody else, and taught her without ever once saying so that love is not a feeling you manage. It is a decision you make and keep making. I learned that in five days in July. I have never loved any other way since.
When Grief Compounds: Layers, Love, and the Family Left Behind
A reader asked if I would write more about grief. What unfolded over the course of our private exchanges was one of the most layered grief stories I have encountered – not because her experience is unusual, but because it is far more common than anyone talks about. This post is for her. And I suspect it is for more of you than any one of us might realize.
Grief is Praise: The Sacred Work of Loving What We’ve Lost | Daily Bread
We live in a culture that treats grief like a broken bone. It morphs grief into something that needs to be set, healed quickly, and returned to normal function as soon as possible. We’re given timelines for mourning, prescribed stages to move through, and gentle but persistent pressure to “find closure” and “move on.” ButContinueContinue reading “Grief is Praise: The Sacred Work of Loving What We’ve Lost | Daily Bread”
The Shape of Escape: A Testimony of Climbing Out of What Almost Kept Me
There’s a term from developmental biology that stuck with me the first time I heard it: chreode. It describes a kind of groove—a well-worn path of least resistance that cells tend to follow during development. Once they start down that track, the path becomes harder to exit. It shapes them. Defines them. Holds them inContinueContinue reading “The Shape of Escape: A Testimony of Climbing Out of What Almost Kept Me”
The Purpose of Pain: Where God Meets Us
We come into this world fragile, unknowing, and dependent—and we leave it in much the same way. Along the way, life leaves its marks on us, not in spite of its challenges but because of them. We are shaped, scarred, and softened by the trials we face. Yet so many of us chase an illusion—aContinueContinue reading “The Purpose of Pain: Where God Meets Us”
A Hero’s Wisdom: Lessons from My Father’s Library and Encouragement for Grieving Children
All of this reflection sparked by a book has me wishing, desperately, that my dad was still here. I miss him so much—especially in moments like this, when I feel so moved by his books. He loved them. I know where he stood on them, what he believed. But when he was alive, I just…IContinueContinue reading “A Hero’s Wisdom: Lessons from My Father’s Library and Encouragement for Grieving Children”
Learn from the Enlightenment My Pain Caused Me (Or How Pain Is the Enlightenment)
I wrote this post a year ago, but the words necessary to appropriately convey it took a lot longer to set in. I used to struggle with anxiety, especially around the holidays. Not the run-of-the-mill holiday stress—this was the kind of anxiety that wrapped itself around my chest, whispering, “Someone’s going to die. Something terribleContinueContinue reading “Learn from the Enlightenment My Pain Caused Me (Or How Pain Is the Enlightenment)”
Grief in the Glitter: Embracing Loss, Honoring Love, and Finding Hope in the Holidays
The holidays can be complicated, especially when grief is part of the equation. As I step into this Christmas season, I’ve been reflecting on how far I’ve come in my own journey with loss and how that journey has shaped my relationship with this time of year. I know I’m not alone in this—so manyContinueContinue reading “Grief in the Glitter: Embracing Loss, Honoring Love, and Finding Hope in the Holidays”
What Lies Beneath: The Truth About Loss, Resilience, and Freedom
As more death—I use that term from the perspective of energetic transition, whether physical, metaphorical, or societal—continues to challenge us all, I have been met with some interesting thought processes by those around me. There is a tendency, I’ve noticed, for people to cling to the idea of positivity, as though maintaining a relentless focusContinueContinue reading “What Lies Beneath: The Truth About Loss, Resilience, and Freedom”
Grieving with Grace: Reflecting on How Stoicism Became My Sanctuary
Grief is a storm that never quite leaves; it lingers in the spaces between breaths. It’s in the way my chest tightens at unexpected memories and in the quiet moments where everything feels a little too loud. For the longest time, I felt like I was adrift, grasping at anything that might pull me outContinueContinue reading “Grieving with Grace: Reflecting on How Stoicism Became My Sanctuary”
Illusions: Letting Go of Someone Who Never Existed Yet Still Exists
When someone once meant the world to us, we often cling to an illusion of who they were. The hardest part isn’t the moving on itself; it’s coming to terms with the fact that the person we hold onto in our minds is not the same person who ultimately hurt us. The person who hurtContinueContinue reading “Illusions: Letting Go of Someone Who Never Existed Yet Still Exists”