Through Hills and Valleys
When I reflect on this past year, it honestly feels like multiple years combined into one. It has had rich seasons of joy and great love. It has had seasons of great challenge and despair. There have been moments of peaceful quiet as well as moments of restlessness and frustration. I feel gratitude for the ebb and flow of these experiences, because I now realize that through them all, Love has been there, present, glowing.
This year, we have experienced great loss. While we mourn together and sometimes can feel regret at the ways we have failed to love, there has also been healing available in remembering how we have been loved and are still loved. In this year, we have done our best to be there for loved ones through illness, through recovery, and through feelings of loneliness and despair. And while those experiences may have caused worry, strain, stress, and sadness, these have also been opportunities to be present with each other in our weaker moments. There have been times this year where we have failed at being as supportive as we might want to be. But these failures have given us a chance to learn how to love each other better than before.
In today’s Gospel, Mary is rejoiceful. She recognizes her Great Blessing against the backdrop of all we can experience in life that humbles us. She falls back on gratitude when lifted up. And God– Love– does both. Love humbles us and lifts us up.
I hope to exercise the gratitude, trust, and joy that Mary does, not just every year when reflecting on what the last 12 months have brought, but as life happens. Because God is here– through our valleys and on our hilltop seasons. Love is here, with us all.
Where has Love existed through my valley moments this year? Have I been grateful when I’ve stood on the hilltops?
Krystelle Robeniol