Compassionate friends at Unity

What comes to mind, what song plays on your heart strings when you hear the word "loss"? Does your mind go blank? Or does a list of names of those you've lost rise up?

Have you lost a loved one, or know someone who has this year? Is the one you've lost a mother, daughter, child, brother, a dear friend, close cousin, husband, mentor, or beloved pet? Do tears still fall, and your heart still ache as you think of this beautiful one? Did they leave a crater in your soul that has left you feeling numb, or lonely or depressed?

No matter who you've lost, how they died, or when they passed, the combination of love and loss needs special care and compassion. Losing a loved one needs honoring the feelings you feel after experiencing the loss of someone you have cared for deeply with a true heart. 

The Compassionate Friends will hold their annual Worldwide Candle Lighting at Unity Spiritual Center of Westlake on Sunday, Dec. 10, starting at 6:30 p.m. with sharing and support. At 7 p.m. the candles will be lit, while across the globe, family and friends gather to honor and remember children, grandchildren or anyone who left too soon. Millions of candles will illuminate this world with a glow so vivid, that not even a thousand shed tears can extinguish them. The light will extinguish the darkness of the soul.

This is the 21st annual Worldwide Candle Lighting, believed to be the largest of its kind. What began as a small internet observance has grown to hundreds of formal candle lighting observances, and thousands of informal, in-home, family observances for those who will never be forgotten. A Remembrance Book will be available online during the event at compassionatefriends.org, and you are invited to post a message.

You are welcome to bring a photo or other memento of your loved one to the USC candle lighting. Come be a part of this wave of light as it travels in 24 hours from country to country through the time zones. The second Beatitude tells us, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matthew 5:4.)

We will gather together and honor each other's losses, in honoring each loss we shall find some comfort here. Our losses have occurred in many forms, from cancer to car accidents to opioids. Please include in your prayers anyone who has been affected by the opioid crisis. 

Unity Spiritual Center is located at 23855 Detroit Road.