I was a Phi Mu in college. I don’t remember our whole sorority creed, but a few lines have stayed with me all these years later.
“To keep forever sacred the memory of those we have loved and lost.”
A few days ago I sat down to start addressing our Christmas cards and the latest version of our Christmas card list was 2019. I realized as I was going through the list that there would be significantly less cards for me to send this year, not for any other reason except my family has lost so many loved ones recently. I know I’m not alone in this, what with a word wide pandemic and such.
In January of 2018 my grandfather passed away at the age of 96.
In September of 2018 my father-in-law and my uncle passed away on the same day, just hours apart.
In November of 2020 my beloved aunt passed away after a 2.5 year long battle with cancer. I’m still struggling to grieve this loss in a healthy way.
In February of 2021 my papa passed away after contracting pneumonia from Covid.
In September of 2021 my grandma passed away at almost 99 years old.
So in under 4 years, we’ve lost 6 family members + countless friends of the family. It has been challenging in ways I cannot express and unfortunately my children have learned what it looks like to watch their mom and dad grieve way too early.
So, as I geared up to address my cards with coffee in hand and a Hallmark movie in the background, I couldn’t help but begin repeating that beautiful line from the Phi Mu Creed to myself.
“To keep forever sacred the memory of those we have loved and lost.”
And that is what we will do. This Christmas, we will hold tightly to the memories we have with each of our departed loved ones. We continue to tell their stories and share of favorite recollections with our children. We will look at photos and watch videos, and laugh and also cry. We will thank God for His faithfulness in their lives. We will praise Him for the eternity we look forward to.
This Christmas if you are in the midst of grieving loved ones, please know you are not alone. The holidays are hard. There are so many reminders that they’re not there.
But we also get to take heart. The baby boy we celebrate at Christmas is the same man who died so that we wouldn’t be separated from God for eternity. That little baby boy is the hope that was longed for since the garden. He was the beginning and He will be the end.
EDITED: I wanted to add that in March 2022, my mom’s brother, my uncle, passed away leaving behind his wife of many years, two daughters, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren. He lived such a full and beautiful life, and I did not want this blog post sitting out there in the world without his legacy added to it.