A Woman's Suffering: When Life is Out of Order

An “Out of Order” sign greeted me at the self-check-out counter of the grocery store. I especially didn't didn't want to see it because the other check-out lanes had several people waiting their turn. Finding this sign on an occasional gas pump or two at the same station when I’m in a hurry does not exactly help me have a good attitude about life in the moment.I do enjoy walking into a pharmacy or other retail store where every thing is in order on the shelf. I give a sigh of relief and breathe in the peaceful knowledge and feeling that “everything has a place and everything is IN its place." It has a calming effect on me.When life delivers pain to us that does not make sense or is “out of order,” it seems unlikely that anything will ever be “in order" again. This is the way I feel about the deep mother wound that changed my life. My mother passed away unexpectedly in her sleep at the age of 49 years. I was 29 at the time. Another twenty-nine years have passed now yet this wound rocked my world and has impacted the rest of my life.Her untimely death is “out of order” for the typical flow of life I had expected to happen. January 23 was the anniversary of her death. The week-end was one of tears, some laughter, sadness, and a little joy all wrapped up in the rhythm of mourning.Over the years, I have realized that many women have their own continuous mother wound as I do, yet it comes in a different form. Some of the wounds they suffer are abandonment, effects of alcoholism, divorce, neglect, narcissism, emotional distance, Alzheimers (just to name a few). For them, there is a striving to make sense of the chaos and “out of order” relationship life that they have lived with most of their lives.If you are wanting to be in a safe and loving place while you intentionally face a particular wound you have experienced or continue to experience from your mother or a mothering presence in your life, I invite you to attend the 2nd annual Women’s retreat entitled: The Mother Wound: Why We Need the Nurturing Presence of Christ.