It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
the living should take this to heart.
3 Frustration is better than laughter,
because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
Ecclesiastes 7
Death.
I must admit I can do without it.
Funerals.
I have better things to do than to cry and feel bad.
I remember when our daughter passed away I had well meaning friends say how they hate funerals.
They avoid them.
In fact, many run as far away from grief as they could possibly go.
They find caverns to meditate/
They drink health juices and eat healthy food.
Just to avoid the feelings of sadness when friends die.
People are creatures of comfort and seekers of fun.
After all it seems to them
that is what they were suppose to do.
Not
sit in some chapel saying goodbye to a friend they would never see again.
Sigh.
I must admit that I would rather be in the house of mourning than the house of
feasting as I am reminded in Ecclesiastes 7
Perhaps this is where I am in my grief?
No longer running from it
No longer avoiding the pain
I run toward it knowing that the Lord who guided me through my grief
is going to use me to help others grieve.
I have this picture of the lowly caterpillar.
That is us.
We crawl on branches
filled with purpose and destination.
Full of life.
Until we make a cocoon for ourselves.
It is dark for a while.
lonely.
Until we begin to come to life and we chip away
at the shell that was once us.
and we emerge as beautiful Monarch Butterflys
Experiencing life like we never experienced it before.
No longer limited by our earthly limitations.
Because of what Christ did funerals take on a whole new meaning.
Except.
I call these celebration of life events
because when I close my eyes during a worship song
I can picture the one departing
soaring like a monarch butterfly emerging from its cocoon.
experiencing life in a new body
with no limitations
One day
As we progress in our own grief journey we are given new stories
to share with those around us.
Stories to help others heal.
Grief will then be like being on a sail boat on a sunny, beautiful day on the lake
The wind suddenly changes
and we raise our sail
and head in the direction God wants us to go wondering how
God will use us.
No longer groped in pain,
we anxiously look forward to helping others recover from their pain.
Steve's journey is finished, but until our Lord calls us home our journey
continues.
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