Grief has a way of seeping through the cracks and crevices of the lives that we inhabit. At other times, it barrels through doors like a flood that saturates all that is in its path. Goodness does likewise.

It is a strange thing to be reintroduced to a woman upon her death—one you’ve known your entire life. The woman who birthed the man who made you.

On a chilly morning in December, Grandma's sons and siblings, nieces and nephews, grandchildren and friends, gathered for her homegoing. We wept. We celebrated her life. Truly, to know her was to love her.

Grief has a way of seeping through the cracks and crevices of the lives that we inhabit. At other times, it barrels through doors like a flood that saturates all that is in its path. Goodness does likewise.

May God meet you as you sit in grief and stand in goodness.

When we talk about that which will sustain and nurture our spiritual growth as a people, we must once again talk about the importance of community. For one of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, places where we know we are not alone. —bell hooks