Ecclesiastes 1:9-11; 2:24-26; 3:1-8

A full human life, even for Christians, includes both love and loss. Opening ourselves to the risk of love also means opening ourselves to the pain of loss. Some of us overestimate how “strong” we are until we are faced with hardship and loss, and we are forced to see our own mortality. Others of us consider ourselves too “fragile,” and we are afraid to take risks because we might get hurt. Both are defenses to protect us from grief. Grief is hard and Jesus dwells within us. He is our “treasure” that we hold in the clay jar of our humanity. We don't have to be stronger than we are, or live stuck in fear of moving forward. Drawing on this image from 2 Corinthians 4:5-7, we'll explore the complicated human experience of grief during the month of September.