Grieving

Grief has been mapped out to the point of unbreakable formula, making many believe that all you have to do is go through the seven steps and go on with your life. Grief is the other side of the coin of joy, not an opposite so much as grief makes joy possible. How is it possible to know grief if you know no joy? Grief subsides into the background and then reappears in a storm. Grief ebbs and flows. Grief disappears for a time and then erupts full-blown. Though many describe grief as a negative emotion, they are wrong. Grief is capable of spiraling into severe negativity, usually when accompanying fear is allowed to reign and joy is abandoned. I read on a blog about grace that anger is grief's guard dog. Allow yourself to grieve, for the loss, for yourself, for the unwanted change, for all the facets or as many as you recognize and understand; there may be things you don't. Don't stay in grief too long; allow it to nurture growth into a new, deeper joy. Remember that God grieves, the evil we choose, the pain of His children, the sin that holds us away from Him. In the end, give the grief to Jesus, who suffered all for us. Share in the joy He wants for us.