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A very powerful image, a way of helping to create a ceremony of remembering, and a physical symbol of release is that of Releasing Balloons.
Balloons
can be viewed as a release of the grief.
Balloons
can be seen as a celebration of life.
Balloons
can be sent with messages, notes of remembrance, poems.
Balloons
can be filled with flower seeds.
Balloons
can be filled with bird seeds.
 As
you watch the balloons
disappear out of site, feel the balloons lifting away the problems, the pain and the unwanted emotions. Let the old memories be
cast
Kirsti A.
Dyer
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We have had several people write and tell of the experiences with Balloon Releases. As always, sharing helps others to realize they are not alone.
I
love the balloon site. For Shannon's
birthday this year, we released 45 balloons with notes in them from family
and friends and notes to her "Angel Friends" from their Moms, women I had
met on line who had also lost children. It was the most powerfully uplifting
experience to know that we were altogether in spirit. We had a note on
the paper that said,
Today
would have been my fathers 65th birthday. Ella suggested that I get
a balloon and let it go. This morning I went and found a balloon
that matched his personality and
then went to a place that he loved to go
(of all places a Walmart) and let the balloon go with our thoughts
and prayers up to the sky.
Its is strange but it made me feel better, I
felt like I was close to him
on his birthday.
We
take balloons and fill them with flower seeds and release them every time
Tomorrow
(9/21) would have been Peter's 26th birthday. Since it
wouldn't be feasible to do something
either today or tomorrow, we decided
to "celebrate" yesterday.
Leigh and I went out and bought a nice Happy Birthday balloon (with a green background, of course). Leigh knew of a nice grassy field nearby and drove us there. We then walked out to the middle of the field, each said a silent prayer, out loud wished Peter a Happy Birthday, then let the balloon go.
At first we didn't think the balloon was going to lift. It floated so low that at one point we thought that it was going to land on the ground. It slowly started to lift, but then headed right for a bunch of nearby pine trees. We both thought that surely the balloon would either get snagged or popped. That balloon was right in the branches!
However,
we both watched with surprise as the balloon just sort of
"danced" among the branches, turning
around and actually circling some of
the branches. We watched the ribbon curl around a couple of the
branches, but it never snagged.
Finally, the balloon lifted
out of the trees and rose into the very blue sky. 
Just
before the balloon went out of sight, two butterflies
appeared near us. They appeared
right in the line of vision. The butterflies
seemed to dance around each other, then they flew away.
I
heard at a seminar yesterday that when you release the balloon you can
release some of the grief or feelings
that are holding back your grief...
I wasn't sure we were going to make it because Cathy went form I think
I can make it to someone turn the car for me. She was very scared as we
enter the cemetery. When we got to the the grave site, I wasn't sure
if Cathy would get out of the car. We sat for about and hour and I could
tell that Cathy had made a conscious decision to step forward and leave
go. She had fought for some time with her demons.
We had taken a bunch of balloons to release. As we watched the balloons go, I held Cathy's hand. I felt somewhere in side a sigh as if to say, "I have done it!" I've released them. When I looked back at Cathy, it was as if Atlas himself had come down and lifted the world from her shoulder. Her posture seemed to straighten and she held her head as if she was proud. As if she knew that the world would be different and that she could still make it.
She gave thanks to the Lord for having friends and for the courage to face life with this new attitude.
BALLOONS
BELONG IN CHURCH
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Certainly a thing of beauty. And, if not forever, at least a joy for a very important now.
When
later he met me at the door, clutching blue string, orange and pink
bobbing behind him, he didn't have to tell me something had gone wrong.
"What's the matter?" He
wouldn't tell me. "I bet they loved your balloon..." Out it
came then, mocking the teacher's voice: "We don't bring balloons to
church (synagogue, temple, solemn retreat)." Then that little
four-year-old, his lip a bit trembly, asked: "Why aren't balloons
allowed in solemn places? I thought God would like balloons."
Where did we get the idea that
balloons don't belong in church, synagogue, temple or solemn retreat?
Where did we get the idea that
God loves gray and sh-h-h-h and drab and anything will do?
I think it's blasphemy not to
appreciate the joy in God's world.
I think it's blasphemy not to
bring our joy into God's church, synagogue, temple or solemn retreat.
What beautiful gift cannot be
offered unto our Higher Power?
Whether it's a balloon or a
song or some joy that sits within you waiting to have the lid taken
off?
The Scriptures say there a time
to laugh and a time to weep.
It's not hard to see the reasons
for crying in a world where hatred for others is manifest;
But it's also not hard to see
the reasons for laughter in a world where God's love is so manifest.
 So
celebrate!
Bring your balloons and your butterflies, your bouquets of flowers! Bring the torches and hold them high! Dance your dances, paint your feelings, sing your songs, whistle, laugh. LIFE is a celebration, an affirmation of God's love. LIFE is distributing more balloons.
For God so loved the world... Surely that's a cause for joy. Surely we should celebrate! Good news! That God should love us that much. Amen! |
The Balloons belong in Church article was forwarded to us by Michael Bischoff at SIMPLY LOVE, with the message "Please pass this on to anyone you feel could benefit from it."