Blessed are those that mourn

“Blessed are they that mourn” Matthew 5:4 #lighttheworld

I remember the morning of Emmett’s viewing sobbing in my mother’s arms. I said, “I can’t do this mom. I can’t have another person walk in here and hug me—I can’t keep pretending I have anything left to give—I can’t even stand it when they touch me. Today I just want to be left alone.”

My wise mother held me close and said, “Ashlee . . . then don’t do it for you—do it for them. Hug them—not because you want to— but because they came to mourn. They lost something too—a brother, a son, a friend. Every person who knew him will never be the same. So let them in. Sometimes it will be for you—but most of the time you will have to do it for them. Comfort them.”

A few things I have learned—since that day— about grief, loss, and mourning. 

1. It is an individual journey . . . but nearly impossible to do alone.

2. Others might have lost similar to you, but they might handle it differently.

3. No one prepares you for how hard it is going to be and that it doesn’t truly ever end.

4. It is a road that never leads you back to who you once were . . . but a path that takes you to a new place—of who you can become. 

5. Faith doesn’t take away the pain—it just helps you remember you are not doing it alone.

6. God will give you more than you can handle—but He will also give you a Savior . . . who will carry you through the days you cannot stand on your own.

Grief is impossible to put into words, and I have failed many times to describe the pain that one experiences in the midst of great loss.  But one thing I do know something about—is that we can mourn with those who mourn...because we all need each other. Through the good times and the bad. You are never ever alone.