Laurel Moffatt considers the universal nature of grief. Many are grieving these days: Illness. Loss of friends, lovers, and family members. The loss of time. The rumbles of war. The question is never whether grief will ever arrive in our life, the question is what to do with it when it does.

Mary Delaney, who was born in 1700 to an upper-class family, was married unwillingly to an unkind man. Her life was emotionally fraught while her husband lived and financially strained once he died. Joy did follow, but even these latter blessings were tainted by still more suffering.

Yet Mary learned that the best way to deal with grief is not to ignore it or push it away, but let it stay, give it room, let it speak for itself. And in so doing, she not only invented a whole new art form but discovered how God's grace can colour even the darkest times.

LINKS

More about Mary Delany

An online collection of the Mary Delany’s flowers

Molly Peacock, The Paper Garden: Mrs Delany [Begins her Life’s Work at 72]