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We cover a lot in this month’s April bulletin. Why? … because we are all dealing with A LOT! Yesterday, I literally turned off the TV and social media because of an overload of grief and sorrow being played out by the entertainment business, otherwise known as “the news”. While there are legitimate losses in the world that beg us to pray and ask God for mercy and healing, we also have a genuine responsibility to ration the amount of grief that we carry about in our minds, particularly if we are trying to manage our own close personal losses. For the losses in the world, we lift those needs up to God to carry and bring swift solutions. It does no good to follow the endless media coverage of “breaking news”.
So, we ration the losses that we deal with to those personally associated with our lives: Deaths of loved ones, loss of hopes and dreams, changes in our lifestyles due to death, aging and/or relocation, unspoken ambiguous losses, and even anticipated losses. The Easter season that we’ve just entered reminds us that we have a “risen” comforter who walks with us, steadying our steps and consoling our broken hearts. Life carries on beyond our earthly existence and the love that we were blessed to experience, remains with us and encourages us to live life as fully as God intended. As one of our handout activities directs us, imagine yourself, as did Mary of Magdala, at the entrance to the opened Easter tomb and peek inside to see that thing (or things) in your life that signifies death or loss. Hear Jesus tenderly speak your name [insert your name here] and feel the reassurance and hope that joy can emerge in the midst of your sorrow. Jesus carried “death” itself to the grave! As He is risen, so are we and so are our loved ones that respond to His merciful invitation. We turn to His hope and we pray for all of our loved ones, both living and departed, to turn toward His resurrected presence and saving grace. We pray for the courage and strength to face our losses and the faith to turn over the heavy burdens of loss to the compassionate and capable arms of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Special days like Mother’s Day can be bittersweet days for those grieving the absence of a dear matriarch. For this reason, we provide early supportive articles to prepare tender hearts with practical ways to ease the heartache that tends to surface about a month prior to the holiday and intensifies as it approaches. We also bring you articles about another grief that tends to be “hidden”: Sibling Grief. Brothers and sisters often carry the load of supportive activities after a death, and by default receive the role as caregivers or bystanders (instead of grievers) in the loss of a sibling. Their grief takes a back seat to a parent, spouse, or children of the departed. Even elders may have very few family and friends still living with whom they can share memories of their departed loved sibling. It is a very lonely and unvalidated type of grief. For these very reasons, National Siblings Day was established and the bonds of brothers and sisters are purposefully celebrated.
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