Editor's Reflection on the Jouney: Why Is This So Hard?

As we move through the grief journey, there is often surprise and frustration as we discover our previous coping skills don’t seem to work in dealing with this scary and uncertain situation.   Nothing we have experienced in the past seems to translate into this new and uncharted process. Most of us have previously experienced pain, separation, heartache, and even loss, but we will experience death of a loved one as a very different concept to conquer.

So how do we begin to understand and acquire the tools we need to be successful on our grief journey?  Grieving in community is the biggest step we can take on our path to healing.    When we don’t know what to do in our lives, we often look for expert advice and information. There is such practical information we can learn from others who have also experienced a death.   And the Grief Support workshop is another way to gain even more knowledge, insight, and concrete examples of how to walk this path successfully.

It is also important to think about how God has created us as His children here on earth.  God originally created us to be His eternal companions, to be in community with Him and to NEVER die.  Being created to never die means our brains and hearts are not wired to truly understand this horrible event called death. Even though sin entered the world and caused the consequence of death to enter into every life journey, it is not something we will ever truly understand or embrace.

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  Genesis 1:27   

The challenge to us is accepting that as fallen images of God, we cannot understand the process, reasoning, or occurrence of death. We need to accept the fact that we will NEVER truly understand death, the what, where, how, and why, and rest in that fact as being a good thing. We were created to be eternal.  We ARE eternal.  But God has left us with words of the consequence of walking away from Him, or accepting Him.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:23

As we wrestle with the dark side of this process, may we appreciate, embrace and grasp the promise God has given us – of eventually leaving the darkness of death for the brightness of eternity in His presence.   Let us choose Him and His grace and ask for His healing as we all move towards new beginnings and our own eventual ending here on earth.