Some losses may flow through us easily like a breeze moves a curtain. Others may stick and stay around for a while, popping up intermittently and without warning. It is likely that we will experience a grief or two or three during our lifetime that stops us in our tracks. Grief demands our attention—make no mistake about that.

I must say that sharing my poetry makes me feel a bit vulnerable. I am not really a poet. Amidst the loss of my father though, I found that I just had to write some of my feelings down.

There are times in life when more support is needed. Deaths. Children suffering. Marital strife. Transitions of any kind. Loss abounds. So for these tougher times, I use a meditation taken from a book by Desmond Tutu and his daughter, Mpho Tutu-- called The Book of Forgiving.

As tempting as it may be to avoid or distract ourselves from the pain or loss we feel, we compound our problems when we do so. Our stresses mount or become more complex.

One thing I have learned over the past while is that we grieve best when we are open to what we feel--when we give this guest called loss/grief-- a permanent room in our life--and when we can talk about and honor our loss in ways that feel meaningful to us.

In this episode Margi Dehlin shares an essay she recently wrote dealing with heartbreak, resilience, and intimacy entitled "Broken Open." The text of the poem is available below.

"It may be when we no longer know what to do, that we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey." Wendell Berry