How do you walk with someone experiencing the very deepest kind of grief?

We are often tempted to think we need to say something …

something deep,

something that will comfort, will heal …

something profoundly spiritual.

But what if the most important thing we can do is to simply show up,

and be still?

Henri Nouwen puts it best:

"The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not-knowing, not-curing, not-healing and face with us the reality of our pain, that is the friend who comforts."

Oh God, may we be this kind of friend ..