大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Nadiyka Gerbish, a Ukrainian writer and podcaster

Kissing Loved Ones Goodbye

Good morning.

Whenever there is a difficult choice or a challenging decision, I feel humbled and grateful to have the people I can look back and look up to.

My great-grandfather was drafted right at the beginning of the second world war. As an officer, he had to be trained 2,500 kilometers away from home. His young wife missed him terribly and decided she could not let him go to war without her kiss - days later, her husband was sent to the frontline. Before being drafted, he was a schoolteacher. Teachers were needed back home, so he was soon demobilized.

When the Communists established their rule in his town, he was told he could not mention God in the school. So, he resigned and became a priest instead. He knew his wife and their four children would be oppressed but persisted. The decisions of my great-grandfather still inform mine. His old map is hanging on my wall. His little book is always at hand. I took it with me when we had to flee Ukraine at the beginning of the invasion. And brought it back home as we returned.

Today, I think of those who will never have a chance to kiss their loved ones goodbye. And I keep hoping that the sacrifice of the people defending justice will not be in vain.

Lord of justice and peace, I pray for those who suffer and remember their past sacrifices, those who lost their loved ones in war, and those who are going through the pain of separation, may you be their comforter and stronghold.

Amen.

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