fasting

I fast regularly for a friend.  Not long amounts of time, usually it adds up to a meal or two each week.

I believe that somehow I share in part of her grief.  This seems silly to even say since tiny pangs of hunger for a short time are nothing in comparison.

And yet...

it is something.

In some crazy way I believe this is how I can be in it with her.  Waiting, hoping, questioning too.

Sometimes hope needs to come from a place so deep, words and actions only go so far to show love.  And even though sometimes I have no idea what love looks like or how to show it...I wonder if its meant to be intangible and quiet. 

I think about the many in my life this could apply to.  Somehow we come together in grief and can help bear the burden, even if it is not our own and even if it's just shouldering a small portion of the pain.

Maybe this is a glimpse of beauty within pain...deep love, carrying the load together.