Fear, Anger, Sadness -- They are all Tied up with Love

Courtney Lund is a professor and writer who is currently working on a memoir about her relationship with her disabled brother, Gavin who suffers with AGS Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome.

Courtney received the news about her four-month-old baby brother when she was 19 and in college. She dropped out of college to be with him and her family -- and to learn to love him, despite his death sentence.

There was nowhere for Courtney to turn for help as there was no resource to help people who had to cope with losing a sibling, to a disease or death. Feeling like she was up against the impossible, while also feeling alone are probably some of the worst feelings in the world. She had left life in a sorority house to the home of my dying brother. 

 

In Courtney's words: Love is one of the most complex emotions, and the only way we can love authentically is to go through those emotions. Fear, anger, sadness -- they are all tied up with love. And the longer we run from those emotions, the harder it is to love fully, and wholly.  

Faith, Hope, and Love have often been lumped into a cliche.  Each component draws off the other. I wondered what it would look like if I drew it.  I saw the image of an old tree. 

It starts with the roots - the foundation.  This is our faith. The trunk grows sturdy, from the support of the roots.  This is our hope. From the trunk, love grows.  Love flourishes, like branches, our of hope.  The three are fluid and part of a larger whole.

 

Listening to her story you will be inspired on a level you did not think possible.