My kids coming home for a visit is the only excuse I need for making a blueberry pie. We had cut generous slices and piled on the whipped cream when the conversation turned to summer blueberries and our friend Peg, who died in January. Even after moving to another state, she always found a way to get her annual supply of Maine blueberries.
It felt good to talk about Peg, to remember a small detail from our long friendship. Then, days later, out of the blue, came a picture of a blueberry pie in a text from one of Peg’s nieces! Turns out I’m not the only one missing the blessed connection with that unique person.
Grief and loss are horrible and hard.
Somehow, though, the knowledge that I’m not grieving alone, the shared experience of missing a dear friend, the gift of saying her name out loud, and laughing about some shared memory lightens the load.
The gift of community helps to lighten the load of tragedy.
Grief and loss are horrible and hard. The gift of community helps to lighten the load of tragedy.
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Johanna Rojas Vann takes on the topic of paralyzing grief in Where Wilted Flowers Bloom. The sadness Sandra hoped to leave behind in New York City when she and her family moved to Nashville greeted her at the door of her beautiful new home.
As she snapped at her children and shut out her husband, resisting his attempts to share in her sorrow, she concluded, “Nobody tells you that the key to a long and happy marriage is to avoid tragedy.”
Friendship was the surprise waiting for her in the house next door! Mark, a retired pastor, widow, and avid gardener, listens to Sandra’s heart and offers the gift of a very unusual friendship.
While the hard work of digging in Mark’s garden helped to calm Sandra’s anxious spinning, his shared wisdom opened the door to hope: “When we lose the people we love, we experience the greatest manifestation that we live in an utterly broken world. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”
And his connection to a body of faithful believers introduced Sandra and her family to the joyful celebration of worship, the embrace and love of committed Christ-followers, and the comfort of prayer.
Every stay-at-home mum needs a friend and neighbor like Mark, and I enjoyed reading about the unfolding of that unlikely friendship that spanned generations and welcomed the messiness of life with young children. Vann’s willingness to give voice to the deepest chasms of loss will speak hope to readers who wonder if life will ever bloom again.
In Where Wilted Flowers Bloom, Johanna Rojas Vann’s willingness to give voice to the deepest chasms of loss will speak hope to readers who wonder if life will ever bloom again. @WaterBrookPress
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Holding You in the Light,
A Bible App Devotional Plan for the Season of Gratitude
For those of us in the United States, Thanksgiving falls in November. However, gratitude is not circumscribed by geographic boundaries. Nor do we need a calendar’s permission to leave room for gratitude, so whether you think of this series of devotionals as heart preparation for the coming season or simply want to retune your heart to the key of thanks, this is your invitation to pay attention to the steady stream of blessing that comes to us through God’s love. May we enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, no matter what the season of the year.
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Many thanks to Waterbrook and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.
Aw, I love that blueberry story! Grief is hard but it’s so nice to know we never experience it alone. There is always someone somewhere missing that person too.
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