The most poetic line from last night's episode of Downton Abbey

The Most meaningful Line from last night’s episode of Downton Abbey worth staying up watching

Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, Lord, for you are with me. Your 

shepherd’s rod and staff protect me. Psalm 23:4

Ending a good day of moving our son back into his dorm we decided to  watch last night’s episode of Downton Abbey.  Actually, my wife was going to watch it regardless and I had to decide if I would trade in my man card and watch it with her, or do something else to occupy my time. I chose to watch it with her and to be perfectly honest I was glad I did.

It didn’t take long watching before the most honest and poetic line of the show appeared. In this episode, Lady Mary who is grieving the loss of her husband, Matthew, uttered the line that all of us who grieve can relate too. Her line and I am paraphrasing it goes like this: “ I am not sure who I miss more, my loved one who died, or the person I was before my sorrow”.  To those who haven’t suffered a significant loss that line likely fell on deaf ears, but those who have that line hit us between the eyes.

That is probably the most painful part of grieving a loss. You simply become someone you never intended to be. Tears flow easily as thoughts of your loved one come to the surface and smiles are harder to make.  Alas, when the rubber meets the road this is where faith comes in.  Faith really works best when we are going through tough and painful times, not necessarily when life is good and the barnyards are being filled.

When sorrow surfaces in our life sometimes the only thing we can do is to be silent until we hear the voice of the Lord. Sometimes the only thing we can do is place one foot in front of the other foot and keep moving forward Sabbath after each Sabbath.  Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is also walking this journey with us and sometimes we have to remind ourselves from the lives of other people who have been there that it is possible to recover from the sorrow of a loved one and ‘yes there will be a day where we will once again smile and laugh again.. 

Finally, I am reminded with this image of a mountain climber. He is grudgingly climbing with all of his might and energy, sweating as he goes. He pauses every now and then to hydrate himself before continuing on his quest for this mountain.  He chooses to look ahead  and not behind, unless he desires to lose his equilibrium. He presses on with no desire to quit until he reaches the very pinnacle which literally takes his breath away when he sees the most incredible panoramic view that would not have seen if he can quit before reaching that spot.  He realized that all of that pain, all of those tired muscles was worth it to view the one thing that would give him the opportunity to smile.

Like the mountain climber a person in sorrow can reach the conclusion of their grief simply by pressing on through the pain on one's grief, through the tears and they will know they have reached recovery when that one moment comes and they are able to laugh and enjoy life once again.   If we set ourselves on the end goal of our grief and keep moving forward and trusting God that He knows what he is doing we will come out stronger and more resilient than when we first entered that sorrow.