Leaving space for grieving



This past week we witnessed Jesus grieving for His friend, relative, and mentor John the Baptist in Matthew’s 14th chapter. Jesus modeled a pathway of moving forward through grief that can help us.

Reflecting on that yesterday I watched a few TED talks on grief and discover some additional insights:
  • Grieving is learning
  • It was really good then and it can one day be really good again
  • We can hold two streams of thinking simultaneously both grief and hope

Also this:
  • Some things can't be fixed and not all wounds can heal
  • Grief is not a moment in time
  • You can't move on but you can move forward
  • To comfort those who’ve lost much, they can move forward but be clear - they haven't moved on (forgotten)

As followers of Jesus - His new kingdom disciples, we have a hope greater than now, and even in grief, we don’t do so without hope!

“Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians.”
‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NET‬‬

Let us be always trusting that even though we may at times grieve, there is joy in the morning and to come! 


Photo by Frederik Löwer on Unsplash

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