And I was answered: ‘It lasts, and ever shall last, because God loves it’. I looked upon it and thought what may this be? And the Lord answered me: “it is all that is made.” I marvelled how it might last, for I thought it might have fallen to nothingness because of its littleness.
Also in this He showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, in the palm of his hand and it was as round as a ball. I saw that He is to us everything that is good and comfortable for us: He is our clothing that for love wraps us, clasps us, and all encloses us for tender love, that He may never leave us being to us all things that are good. In this same time our Lord showed me a vision of his love. In those moments, I find this second passage from Julian a helpful reminder of things that we can know to be true, even in the midst of change: But sometimes that reassurance feels difficult to cling to, particularly in the face of great tragedy and loss when we can’t see a way for things to be made well. 27) This certainly provides us with comfort in the changing of the seasons: despite sin, despite brokenness, despite suffering, God promises that all will be made well.
In one of her well-known showings or revelations, God’s reassures Julian that, despite sin and brokenness, “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” (Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, Ch. What could provide grounding and certainty in the big change these seniors are entering, passing from spring into summer and from undergraduate into their careers and lives? What can I hold onto in seasons of transition, both ones that hold joy and ones that hold grief? What can I say to friends who are struggling to see God’s goodness in the midst of tragedy, or to loved ones overwhelmed by the goodness and hope of new opportunities?Ī few passages by one of my favorite theologians, the fourteenth-century anchoress Julian of Norwich, kept coming to mind. But what about those who may not feel joyful, or for whom May holds difficult anniversaries, or those who are grieving? When one doesn’t feel the promise of summer sunshine holds much hope or joy, what can one hold onto? When giving a benediction to graduating seniors a few weeks ago, I was thinking about some of these transitions and changes, and about how to weather the changing of seasons when things are bright and hope-filled as well as when things seem bleak and grief-filled.
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