Grief and Loss

My Grandfather never knew his father, because he died when my Grandfather was a toddler.  His wife, my grandmother, died from cancer before any of her grandchildren were born.  His daughter in law, who was his daughter in his heart, died before any of her grandchildren were born, the first of which was my son.  Add to that the Great Depression and World War II and you get a hint, and only a small hint, of his pain.  This pain is not something that goes away, even with the generations.

So what do we do with that grief and loss?  It seems that there is a tendency to bottle it up, to not let it out, for fear that if it got let out, who could control it, sort of like damming up a huge reservoir that is filled to the brim.  The pressure and stress of living bottled up is something all of us see probably every day, if not in our own life, in the lives of those we love.  So if I am not to bottle up the grief and loss, what am I to do?

The Psalms are not only the biggest book of the Bible, but the most honest.  Grief is one of the many parts of life that is spilled over into the Psalms.  Reading the Psalms has helped many people to let the river of their grief and loss flow out.  And where does it flow to?  Through the Holy Spirit, who speaks from the Psalms to our hearts, our grief and loss can be an offering to God.  If all I have is grief and loss, then letting that flow out of myself to God is my act of worship.  This cannot happen if I am always holding it in, for worship is not always clean and neat, but often comes with the dirt we throw ourselves down in, the ashes we throw on our heads, and the tears that stream down our faces. . .