It is ok to grieve

For those facing two weeks in isolation, or twelve weeks mostly stuck at home, or a lifetime of chronic illness…

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It is ok to grieve

It is ok to grieve,

to mourn the small things and the large:

to shed your tears for cancelled plans and missed events,

as well as jobs, or people, lost;

for freedoms gone, and loved ones far away;

to worry, fear, or feel you are alone;

to wonder: can you meet this challenge, and emerge intact?

You can, you will,

you are much stronger than you know.

 

Our lives so often based on what we do,

or who we see, or where we go, or work.

What is there left if all these things are stripped away?

These things are not what make us who we are;

are not the core of life, the most important things.

 

Step back now:

in the quiet and space, reflect.

Discover what is left when normal life is gone.

 

Do not shrink before the gaping chasm

of things which previously filled your life. 

Do not rush to fill the void with drink, or drugs, or food, or any other thing.

Sit with it in the swirling dark, 

draw breath, be still, and let your feelings come.

Shed your tears, sit through the storm…

and it will pass.

 

Look up to God, and dare to look within yourself.

Know you were made to have relationship with him.

And now that there is time and space to search, 

to know that you are loved by him, 

whatever else is happening in your life and soul,

find rest and comfort – 

your purpose and identity intact, 

complete in him.

 

And then, secure in him, look out, beyond yourself, 

and look for ways to share his love…

 

Do not dismiss the pain that overwhelms another person’s soul,

However trivial or strange that pain may seem to you.

Search in your own to feel it as they do,

to hold their hand, albeit from afar,

to grieve with them, and journey by their side.

 

It is ok to grieve,

to mourn the small things and the large:

to shed your tears for cancelled plans and missed events,

as well as jobs, or people, lost;

for freedoms gone, and loved ones far away;

to worry, fear, or feel you are alone;

to wonder: can you meet this challenge, and emerge intact?

You can, you will, 

you are much stronger than you know.

 

Alison Whale, March 2020