Grief is harder the 2nd year after the loss of a child

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”’

Matthew 11:28

I was in the check out line recently to pay for my groceries when I noticed a headline in one of the tabloids, Maria Osmond is checking  into a mental hospital for electric-shock treatments. Keep in mine that I don't always believe everything I read in the tabloids just like I don't believe everything on the internet.. As I opened to the article I scanned it until I got  close to the end where it describes the stress's in her life.

Her son took his life in 2010, just 2 years ago

.I remembered when we finished our first year after the loss of our daughter and I made a  remark to my wife that we're almost to the end of the "season of grief"  In my mind I would assume that things would be back to normal after finishing that one year, after all, once you experience every holiday for the first time without your loved one things will return to normal?  Or will they?

The one year rule for grief is a total myth.  That is assuming that grief is like a quick sprint which it is not.  Grief is more like running a 26 mile marathon through the Arizona desert during the hottest time of the year where every step you take is painfully slow.

Having been down that road of grief I could understand the pain which Maria Osmond was experiencing. If my grief journey is any indication the quiet times at night were the hardest when you are trying to sleep.  It is in the darkness and solitude that one  replaysf all of the mistakes you made along the way of parenting your child. 

 As a mom Maria Osmond sent her son off to college where she would have the opportunity to see her son become the man she raised her son to be, but what she got was a totally different matter.  Going from happiness and joy of seeing her son transition into another stage of life to utter despair of trying to make sense of her son's death now became unbearable for her to handle.

Maria Osmond did the right thing.  Realizing she could not process her grief alone she put her self in a protective environment of a hospital where she could receive the professional care she needed to process the trauma and grief.  It is not shameful to have to admit you need professional help to deal with the pain of loss.

Are you ready to run along side your friend who has experience a traumatic loss?  Are you ready to run a marathon and not just a sprint with that person?  

As we attend our worship services this morning remember we have a God who truly recognizes our pain and He wants us to call on his name whenever we have a burden.