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Good grief (3)
'A time to gain, and a time to lose.' Ecclesiastes 3:6
Different people grieve in different ways, even those in the same family sharing the same loss. The swirling feelings of our grief can include lots of responses: Crying: 'I can't stop crying ever since Dad left...'. Denial: 'This can't be happening, I don't believe it.' Questioning: 'What have I ever done to deserve this?' Anxiety: 'How will I cope? How am I supposed to behave?' Self-blame: 'If only I'd kept my mouth shut. Mum and Dad might still be together'. Anger: 'How could God let this happen!' Loneliness: 'Nobody understands what I'm going through'. Depression: 'There's nothing worth getting out of bed for'. Sadness: 'I wish my mum could see me now'.
Some days we might go through all of this in the space of an hour. Don't feel guilty about what's going on; it's all healthy. We shouldn't brush an important event under the carpet, nor should we be working to forget about someone.
Grief has its season, and its season may last some time, 'For everything there is a season...a time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance' (Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 NLT).
Take hope, there will come a time to laugh and to dance without having to pretend to forget what's happened and know that God grieves with you, understands your sorrow, and wants to reassure you: '... I will comfort you ... as a mother comforts her child' (Isaiah 66:13 NLT).
written by Bob Gass
'A time to gain, and a time to lose.' Ecclesiastes 3:6
Different people grieve in different ways, even those in the same family sharing the same loss. The swirling feelings of our grief can include lots of responses: Crying: 'I can't stop crying ever since Dad left...'. Denial: 'This can't be happening, I don't believe it.' Questioning: 'What have I ever done to deserve this?' Anxiety: 'How will I cope? How am I supposed to behave?' Self-blame: 'If only I'd kept my mouth shut. Mum and Dad might still be together'. Anger: 'How could God let this happen!' Loneliness: 'Nobody understands what I'm going through'. Depression: 'There's nothing worth getting out of bed for'. Sadness: 'I wish my mum could see me now'.
Some days we might go through all of this in the space of an hour. Don't feel guilty about what's going on; it's all healthy. We shouldn't brush an important event under the carpet, nor should we be working to forget about someone.
Grief has its season, and its season may last some time, 'For everything there is a season...a time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance' (Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 NLT).
Take hope, there will come a time to laugh and to dance without having to pretend to forget what's happened and know that God grieves with you, understands your sorrow, and wants to reassure you: '... I will comfort you ... as a mother comforts her child' (Isaiah 66:13 NLT).
written by Bob Gass
