All of us at sometime are going to experience the loss of a loved one. With this loss comes a time of mourning and a time of grief. For many of us we will overcome the mourning, but we will never overcome the grief.
You may ask me “What is the difference?” Technically, there is none. For me, mourning is a reaction immediately to the situation and with time will change. According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, mourning describes our actions or feelings, our expression of grief at someone’s death. We show our mourning through our sounds or dress for a period of time.
Grief is something that we carry for the rest of our lives. It is an intense emotional suffering that creates acute sorrow and deep sadness.
For those of us that have lost our parents, we understand the mourning process, however we realize that God has called them home through old age, sickness, or even accidents. It hurts to lose a parent, a family member, or even a good friend, but we understand that this is God’s will for all of us. We do grieve over their loss, however with God’s love and help, we overcome and move forward in life.
In these years of 2020-22 I have witnessed the loss of three young people in the prime of their lives. My brother and his wife lost their youngest child through a car accident. My sister and sister-in-law lost their youngest sons, one through a heart attack and the other to COVID. My niece was in her forties and my nephews were in their early fifties.
All three of them left families and parents to grieve their losses.
These are very hard lessons of life and I pray that God will never let me experience the loss of a child. I talk to the parents often and all of them still grieve tremendously. The greatest part of all of this is that all of them know Jesus personally and understand that they will be reunited with their children in eternity.
Psalm 34:18 says that “the LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” All of them rely on the Lord and know that He is close to them and will comfort them. Philippians 4:7 tells us “…and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.”
Grief is not an emotion to be avoided, but one to acknowledge and walk through. Family and friends are essential during this time. Christian friends need to be close allies and stay in touch with those that are grieving. Grief is part of loving and engaging with life and we need to be around to encourage our family and friends to do so.
God can use grief to help us know Him more. He should be the first one we go directly to and ask for comfort and guidance. Family unity is also very important and each one should minister directly to each other. All of us should fully appreciate the gift of life.
As Christians, we all realize that we will be together at the end of our time, whenever that comes. All of us should realize and become deeply aware of the effects of sin on this world and cast Satan behind us. Grieving is a natural process; however, we should use it to connect us to the heart of God and understand that He loves us and will give us comfort.
