Second Death and New Beginnings

As I face Memorial Day, the first without my parents, I'm surprised at just how flattened I feel. Trying to write, to be creative, to find new life, to do new things seems like impossible tasks. When I came across this quote today, it spoke directly to me:

"Our suffering becomes exacerbated when we allow one loss to lead to another... it causes the gradual destruction of the soul, the death of our spirit.  The tragedy of the 'second death' can be a worse tragedy than the first.  The first kind of death happens to us, the second kind of death happens in us."--Jerry Sittser

And so I am going to let the drenching rain of an Oregon spring close out the day while I go think and pray about second deaths...and the hope of a new beginnings.