layer upon layer of beauty

Dewitt Jones is a National Geographic photographer who lives in the layered beauty of Hawaii.   His way of seeing is remarkable.  He says that when we look, we must be patient and look long enough to truly see the “unimaginable” come into focus. We must be willing to take the time to allow the wholeness to take its full shape.

Recently I saw a photo he took and he labeled it, 
    “Layer upon layer of beauty – not a battle for survival but a tapestry of co-existence.” 

It occurs to me that if we could learn to see our life losses this way, what a gift that would be.  Can I see the loss of our son and the impact of that sorrow on my heart . . . not as “a battle for survival “ (the way it felt for so long) but as a tapestry of the co-existence of loss and gift, of sorrow and gratitude, of tragedy and beauty.  

Perhaps this is the way a heart heals once it has been broken.