Hope and Grief

The last few days have been rather interesting.

Daniel and I just got back from Fargo today. We went up last night to catch a glimpse of a new nephew. Daniel's brother, John and his wife Julie were expecting a baby and Julie's water broke early yesterday. Early this morning, we got to see John Luke, their son.

It was a fascinating experience. I had not been in a maternity ward before, so it was interesting to see these little beings, who were inside their mother's womb only a few hours ago. It was even more cool to hold little John Luke, himself only six hours old.

I drove home feeling rather good about the events earlier in the day, but I was also mindful of some sad events that had happened earlier. On Sunday, two members of my congregation received some news no parent should receive: their daughter's family had been affected by a tornado that ripped through their suburb. This elderly couple lost their two year old grandson and the four year old granddaughter is still in the hospital with injuries.

I went to prayer tonight and the grandparents were there. We sang hymns and prayed. I was reticient to share my good news: it was hard to share in the joy of the birth of a child when grandparents are dealing with a loss of a toddler.

Hope and grief came together in a strange way today. I don't have any wise words on this other than the fact that it happened and that it seemed like an odd juxtaposition.