Day 35 Loss Part 1 The Amputated Branch

There are many losses in life. The losses that come with age. The losses that are every day. But then there are the big losses in life. These are when an integral part of who we are is amputated.

We are like trees, rooted in the soil of this world. We stand under the sun’s rays and watch as the seasons come and go. But then one day, as we are minding our own business, an axe man comes along and chops off one of our main branches. Many times, we can never figure out why or how such a terrible loss was able to take place. All we know as we watch our amputated branch lying on the forest floor, is that we will never ever be the same again.

To lose such an integral part of who we are is a loss of indescribable pain. We grieve for all that might have grown on that branch and all the birds that might have visited it and even made their nests there. We so desperately want that branch back as it was, but we know that nothing yet created can bring that branch back to life.

We mourn for many years for that loss of ourselves, for a part of us that we can never forget. Eventually we know that we have to let go of all the hopes and dreams we had for that branch. We miss them desperately but we have to learn to do life without that part of ourselves.

And then one day we realise that although that branch might be dead to life in this world, we can carve something of great worth upon it. By now it has dried out and we can hold it to us once more without the searing pain shooting through every part of us.

As we hold it gently and run our fingers over the bark and internal markings, we can once again enjoy it. We now know that it asks us to carve something of great worth upon it. Maybe an idea or a thought will come which will help us honour this branch of ourselves in a way only we will know is right and fitting.

This amputated branch can leave their legacy in the same way as all the branches that still live on us. It will never make up for this, the most terrible of losses, but when we eventually die, we will know that the carving from that branch still remains to bless the many that come after.

Losses can be unbearable if we never eventually learn to accept them. When we can carve something of great worth and beauty upon that loss, it can help to mend a little of our brokenness.

What have been some of the most painful losses in your life, the branches that were amputated?

Where are you on the road to recovery and acceptance of those losses?

If you can, try and identify what carving you might be able to make on those branches which no longer bring you the pain and sadness that they once did. How can you honour that lost part of yourself?