Over this past year we have heard and read of the deaths of so many persons, some we have known, some we have only heard of, and we stop for a moment wondering how it is possible to have so much grief around us.
Grieving is an intensely personal experience, and we all grieve in different ways. Some of us try to put our grief aside and plow ahead with our days, but in the end, it catches up to us. Others grieve immediately mourning not just the death of those we love but, more deeply, our loss, for grief is about our loss – of relationship, companionship.
Many of us bristle when well-meaning persons try to comfort us with certain words, such as, “She’s in a better place now.” No, we want to cry, no, that person’s better place is with us. We hold the memories of those who died in our hearts, but it really is never enough.
Prayer for the Day
We need to feel your presence in our lives, O God,
Especially do we need your embrace in times of grief;
We seek your inner truth not found in the world around us,
For you have shown us that love conquers death.
Bestow on us your grace so we can envision your love,
And peace in our faithfulness to your word.
In the name of him who is always with us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
In times of grief and sorrow I will hold you and rock you and take your grief and make it my own. When you cry I cry and when you hurt I hurt. And together we will try to hold back the floods to tears and despair and make it through the potholed street of life.
Nicholas Sparks, American novelist, from Notebooks
It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses.”
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954)
With my voice I cry to the Lord; with my voice I make supplication to the Lord.
I pour out my distress before God and tell God my troubles
When my spirit is faint, you know my way.
Psalm 142: 1:-3