Please be gentle with hurting souls as they make their way through the holiday season this year.
Hurting hearts are walking among us, quiet and unseen. Their smiles seem bright. Their laugh sounds real. They show up for others. All while silently carrying the, often unbearable, weight of grief.
Some will set the table with one less place setting this year. Others will hold a recipe card in their grandmother’s handwriting and feel the ache of her absence all over again.
There will be moments of real joy – followed by the sharp sting of an arrow to the heart when they realize that these new memories being made don’t include the one they really wish was still here.
It’s a strange thing, being human. How joy and grief are forever intertwined.
So if you see a grieving heart, don’t look away. Lean in. Cry with them. Sit with them in silence, if that’s all they can manage. Let your love be louder than their silence.
No, love can’t fix grief.
But it reminds us we’re not alone in it.
And that’s what matters most.
That is the best gift you can give someone this holiday season – your presence.
Her Complex Musings 