When we come out on the other end of this all of us will have lost something. Many of us will lose someone. How we grieve is going to make all the difference. How we grieve will determine who we become on the other side of this. Many of us will be tempted to stay stuck in blame and anger. It is comfortable, protective, others focused. Anger protects our most tender parts…and it blocks our very best parts. This virus will have won if we let ourselves get stuck here.
Some of us will chose to turn from anger and move on with a smile, We will move on with out skipping a beat. We will find the silver lining and focus on what we are thankful for. Others will look at us and wish they could move on as well as we did. But this will not, can not, last. Unexpressed grief has a bad habit of sneaking out the cracks.
Some of us will let the grief move in. We will spend days in bed, watching the world move on around us but unable, unwilling to join it. We may have lost a lot and our lives will never look the same. we are temped to give up, to give into the darkness and lose hope that there is light on the other side of this.
So how do we grieve with hope? I think it starts with being painfully honest with ourselves and others. I think if we learn how to “name it and claim it” we will all be way better off when we get to the other side of this. If it makes you angry, figure out what is under that. Are you scared? frustrated? tired?, hungry? lonely? bored? take a honest look at what emotion is running the show and what EVENT is driving that emotion. It is so important to grieve the small losses as well as the big ones. The loss of a sports season, the loss of holding your newborn grand child, the loss of our work friend or job or home or wedding or birthday party or worship service or vacation. I encourage you to grieve ALL the losses. cry over them, be sad, punch a pillow, go on a long walk, journal. We must give ourselves permission and space to feel all the feels. Give your hearts space to hope in a better tomorrow.
HOPE WINS
Hope is a choice. Everyday I choose hope. It’s intentional and I look for it in everything I do. It’s all around me. “Look at the birds…the do not sow or reap yet God the Father takes care of the …” The more I look for Hope the more I find it. 😊