Jeremiah laments, “My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick.” We all know the misery of that feeling. Whenever we experience a loss of any kind, from the smallest to the greatest, we cry out in similar fashion in our own particular way. Something has happened, and we have no control over the results. How will we get along, make do, even survive, we wonder. Despair is right there waiting for an opening to jump in and take over. When that happens—and it will again and again as we go through life—our psalmist provides the only response that can or will make a difference in his prayer: “let your compassion be swift to meet us; for we have been brought very low,” in his trust that God will see us through.

Although it may not seem so at the time, we are fortunate to have had the little losses and disappointments that show up in all our lives from time to time when they open our eyes to God’s presence with us. Once we come to realize that the Beloved’s steadfast love and mercy is at work in our lives and will never let us go no matter what the world has to offer, trust rises up from deep within. With God’s grace, each loss lived through to acceptance and peace increases the well of trust so that the tentacles of despair can never gain a foothold in our hearts and enables us “to hold fast to the things that endure” as our collect phrases it.

No matter how deeply we think we trust in God, as long as we live, we will continue to discover it is not yet complete, absolute. Recently when Hurricane Hermine brushed through Tallahassee tossing trees hither and yon and causing massive power outages, that opportunity came my way. I was dismayed seeing all the devastation and disruption. I was a mess. Tears kept showing up unannounced. I had never felt so at sea, and in my vulnerability, Love was made manifest. My trust continues to grow, thanks be to God.