gospel of grief

I always thought life got better.

Until it didn't.

Until the dreams I carried were no longer attainable.

Until my heart was broken by someone I loved.

Until those close to me started dying too young. 

I had to learn something I never wanted to learn...  never knew I needed to learn.

How to grieve. 

In Anne Lamott's book, Small Victories, Anne says,

"But what I've discovered since is that lifelong fear of grief keeps us in a barren, isolated place and that only grieving can heal grief; the passage of time will lessen the acuteness, but time alone, without the direct experience of grief, will not heal it."

No one yearns to grieve. But without grieving, our yearnings shall become barren.  Suppressing what one feels, suppresses all feelings, not just one.

For our faith and hope to come alive once more, we must grieve that in which our faith and hope once lived.