Finding Life in What Has Died

Finding Life in What Has Died

By Silvia Ledon

Yesterday was hard. The images of the flood in Texas have affected us all. So much loss, brokenness, grief. It feels hard to know where to put all those feelings. Where is God? How did this happen? We look for people to blame, we need to be angry at someone or something. 

This morning, I gathered the stinky vegetable scraps I’ve been collecting in my kitchen and took them to my composting bin outside. Beyond my yard, I have a small field of untreated land full of fallen leaves, twigs, and probably snakes that I don’t care to encounter. It felt peaceful, healing even, to rake some of that debris (to make sure nothing big and scary came with it), hand-picking, and cutting up bits of leaves to place them in the bin.  Even more satisfying was using my hands to break down pieces of bark that had once been part of living trees. 

It felt weighty to pick up dead things to join other dead, stinky things so they can self-create a drastically alive eco-system that will transform scraps into very nourishing dirt that will in turn bring life into new growth, meaning my plants. And while nobody has good answers for the devastations that we live through, we can plainly see that the reality that death turns into life is evident all around us. 

What does this even mean for us, dear reader? What does it mean for the person who is grieving over the death of a loved one, the death of a dream, the death of a relationship, the death of life as we want it? In grief, we often miss the subtle hints of life and renewal that are happening slowly and profoundly. But we can look at the evidence in nature, we can trust that the God who says “I am making all things new” is in the process of activating power into all the dead spaces. 

The central message of the good news of Jesus is that death has been conquered forever, not only in our future but in our present losses as well. There is no way that the work of Christ only applies to the afterlife. God’s renewing eco-system is at work today and available to all. 

I came back to the house after working on my composting bin, smiling and feeling hopeful. I was part of the process of bringing things together to make life and it felt wonderful. I wasn’t making life, I was just participating in it. 

So, I guess, our call is to participate: to pray, to converse, to get involved, to help, to trust, to be present, to learn, to love, to believe. Maybe in this process, if we pay attention, we can see the quiet renewal taking place. God is always speaking. What might God be saying to us today?