Christmas,unstuck
Trusting God When Tragedy Interrupts Tradition
by pat layton —
WWW.PATLAYTON.COM
Thanksgiving of 2010 certainly challenged that sense of certainty and tradition.
IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN OUR FAMILY TRADITION TO CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING AROUND MY PARENTS’ DINING ROOM TABLE. With three younger sisters, each year another seat was added to accommodate our own growing families of spouses, children and now grandchildren. Traditions translate into legacies for future generations and offer us a little bit of consistency in an ever-changing world.
14 leadinghearts.com
Within hours of that year’s celebration, my sister called me with the tragic news that our dad had suffered a fatal heart attack. Anyone who has experienced the loss of a parent knows there are no words to describe the collective emotions of a family to such a sudden passing. The weeks that followed my dad’s passing were like a thick fog, a viscous mixture of anger and grief. This wasn’t fair. Every holiday season up to that point in my life had been one of joyful memory making — baking, shopping, decorating and celebrating the birth of Jesus. Tragedy had interrupted tradition, and we were lost. In fact, every one of us needed to find our way to build a new tradition. We needed to trust God
