Lament

This morning I was reading Louis Masson's The Play of Light. It spoke to me, even in my deep lament over Charity’s new journey with cancer.

Says Masson, “In our life…perhaps the days just after a loss are the most difficult to bear. It is time to question whether chance or providence brings lives together. One of my father’s cherished beliefs was that special people would appear in our lives when we were in need.” (p.74)

I turned this in my mind. Who has been brought to whom? Have I (have we) appeared for Charity in her need, or has she appeared for us in ours?

As the morning drifted onward, and I daydreamed while doing my daily exercise, I continued to mull this over. These thoughts took me to the attic to retrieve Michael Card’s A Sacred Sorrow, where I read, "none of us need to be taught how to lament. What we need to hear is that we can lament."

To this end, Card shared a quote from Job… "I will not speak with restraint. I will give voice to the anguish of my soul. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul" (7:11). "I insist on arguing with God." (pp.53-54)

I realize that while Charity's journey is intensely her own, it is also ours. We will lament together. And in this way, perhaps providence has both brought us to her, and her to us. To worship through the language of lament, to give voice to anguish and sorrow.


Watercolor by Charity Singleton. Used by permission (again).

If you post something to share your lament and your love with Charity (a song, a cry, a poem, a prayer, a psalm, a piece of art, whatever), please let me know, so I can link to your post in what could truly be called link love...a way to join together in support and sorrow.

LOVE LINKS:

Charity's Hard Times
Ted's Pray for Charity
Carl's A Lament Most Proper
Christianne's I'm Sad for My Friend
Tina's The Blogging Community
Christine's For Charity
Craver's For a Friend
Jenn's Still Sovereign
A Musing Mom's Retreat
Llama Momma's Words for a Friend
Stacy's Too Hard for Words
Charity's Greeting Cards, Hot Flashes, and the Search for a New Metaphor. Transitions. Countdown to Chemo.
LL's A Prayer
Charity's Update from Chemo 1
LL's Charity for Charity
Craver's Keepin' On
Nancy's Indy
Charity's Practical matters. Radiating with a New Metaphor.
Carl's Take 10 For Charity
Eclexia's Radiating with the Glory of God
Charity's Good Days and Bad Days
LL's Charity Among the Thorns (updates, for prayer)
Nancy's prayer for Charity
Shlomo's A Borrowed Prayer for a Friend
LL's Twice Given
Charity's Series of Events. Things are Getting a Little Hairy. Getting the Treatment. Entering the Season of Expectation.
Nancy's For Bob and Charity
Charity's The Presumption of Heat Pumps
Erin's It's About Something More... Or Perhaps Something Less
Charity's A Good Day. A Head Full of Hair in Glory. Good News. Bottomed Out. Back to Normal. Common to Man.
L.L.'s Prelude to a Prayer
Charity's Ancestral Visits
L.L.'s Postlude to a Prayer
Charity's Another Round. Sneak Peak. Surviving as a Community Event.
L.L.'s new Charity for Charity
Charity's A New Normal. Pressing Forward. A Renewed Mind. Charity's One Year Ago Today.