Hope Where You Wouldn’t Think

Karen and I are of the age, I suppose, at which we begin to lose grandparents on a relatively regular basis. That sounds callous, I know, but in all seriousness, we’ve buried three in three years. Most recently, Karen’s maternal grandfather moved beyond this realm. We knew it was approaching…while it happened a bit more quickly than we had expected, we were still expecting it. That, I think, makes it hurt a bit less.

Unexpected travel, comforting family, the occasionally rampant emotions that these events bring to a family, have all began to transpire between late Saturday and Tuesday of this week. This has become all too regular an occurrence of late, so much so that I’ve become a bit more emotionally detached from it than I prefer. Every year there seems to be one less family member than there was the previous year.

Ironically, or perhaps I should say miraculously, also on Karen’s side of the family, a new child is expected to arrive any time between now and Christmas. There’s something profound in this combination of events…something that I cannot even begin to get my head around as I try to type this out amidst the rush of preparations and arrangements and general chatter occurring around me. What I am able to recognize is a hope, because, even as one life as moved on, another is just beginning. So close to one another, so physically and emotionally near each other. An ending that isn’t truly an ending, a beginning that holds untold amounts of promise and hope of which we cannot even fathom.

As we’ve entered the third week of Advent, I’ve found it difficult to focus on what the season represents, because of emotional and time constraints. What I realize is that, in the very death and birth that are occurring in this brief period of time, we are witnessing first hand the essence of what we celebrate for these four weeks. An anticipation of a continuing life that flies in the face of death, a hope for the future, a trust in a providence beyond ourselves.

I’m seeing the thing we hope for transpire right in front of me this week. That leaves me…speechless.