The Goodness in Loss

So I was talking to one of my good friends yesterday, who was part of the Key Club in high school, and she remarked how all of us who had just returned from the Catholic Youth Ministry Convention (CYMC) in Arizona couldn’t really seem to talk about anything else. She compared it to the District Conventions Key Club would attend every year and how, inevitably, everyone returning was depressed for a week because all they wanted to do was go back. I understood the feeling.

This got me thinking about loss.

From the very moment we’re born, we understand loss. Think about that. We’re sent from the warmth and safety of our first home into a new environment, and we can’t help but cry out for the old. As we grow up, we continue to experience loss. Every moment of pain and suffering we go through is connected to it somehow.

Loss of childhood, loss of pets, loss of friendship, loss of relationship, loss of parents, loss of youth, loss of beauty, loss of material possessions, loss of comfort, loss of security. Lost trust, lost dreams, lost time, loss of life.

As I continued to think about this, it hit me. We are conditioned to deal with loss. Nothing of this world lasts forever. We are not immortal. God created us knowing that we would experience loss, and He did not opt to take that away. God being the omnipotent, benevolent, awesome Creator that He is, must have had a reason for this, so let’s consider.

When one loses something, what remains is an emptiness. We must replace it or fill it with something else in order to feel whole again. This time of loss is an invitation, because, of course, what is God inviting us to fill that emptiness with? Him. Nowadays, we hold on so tightly to the things of this world. We fight and claw and struggle and cry to keep our people, possessions, and situations exactly the way they are for as long as we want (hint: it doesn’t work). The older we get, the more loss we experience, and if we continue to battle against loss and change we will only become more confused and bitter, perhaps losing faith in God altogether.

Brothers and sisters, have faith in our good, good Father. From the moment of our births, he knew our losses would be great, but He equipped us. He gave us His son. The only reason He allows us to experience loss is to gain something greater. Everything we lose here on earth is an invitation to detach just a little bit more, and unite our souls more fully to Him.

Detachment from the world = attachment to God

It is so hard for us to learn to surrender, because in the secular world surrendering is seen as a great weakness. However, we Christians know this isn’t true. We have the greatest example of triumphant surrender, Christ on the cross. What better example to emulate? When we surrender and learn to trust in God, we no longer feel that our losses are an evil. Rather, we understand that even though our lives are not under our control, everything is working for our good through our God who loves us so greatly.

From the perspective of Heaven, all loss is gain, and all will be well.