Transformation at the Bottom

Loss, despair, and the collapse of what once held everything together are part of the human experience. At the edge of what makes sense, when control has disappeared, something deeper begins. Denial has no place here. The pain is real and must be faced. Every tear has mattered. The lowest point is never the final word. Pain, failure, and even guilt do not disqualify. Transformation begins at the bottom. God uses the very thing that would normally destroy us—the tragic, the sorrowful, the painful, the unjust deaths that lead us all to the bottom of our lives—to transform us. Grace—not effort—carries across the threshold. Life renews not through striving but through surrender. Clarity, strength, and honesty emerge on the other side. Pain remains, but its grip loosens. The suffering that once threatened to destroy becomes the soil for a more grounded, open, and awake existence.

May the sorrow that once threatened to undo us
become the ground from which new life rises.

(inspired by Richard Rohr, Reality Moves Toward Resurrection)