The Inevitable Dance: Running With Grief

I came to the mountains to grieve. 

Or to manage grief. 

I’m not sure which -

And I’m not sure it matters.

It is a fight that feels inevitable:

A malevolent beast

Waiting in the shadows

Just around the bend

Or in the next valley

Unknown but inevitable.

But should I assume

That grief is an adversary?

Something to conquer -

To wrestle and defeat

Overcome and rise above?

To vanquish

Would be to forget -

And the pain of that loss

Would be double.

Grief is not a fight - 

But a dance,

Set to the music of memory,

The steady beat of conscience,

Light steps of joy,

Deep dips of regret.

It is how we honor the one we lost.

An act of love.

A tool from a gracious God,

To help us bear

The tragic fruit of the fall.

After all,

We were never meant to die.

Eternity sees

We are always alive.

Death is just a pause,

A moment of separation,

Til time is cast aside,

And all is made right.

Today I laid myself

In the arms of a river.

The water numbed some senses,

While others came alive.

I heard the eternal song

Of immortal waters flowing.

Saw a sky play chords of blue

That throbbed within my soul.

A cloud waved a rainbow

Like a flag in a parade.

A different world,

Impossibly far away.

But in this moment -

Close enough to hear

Every holy note.

It turns out I came to the mountains -

Not to fight,

But to dance.