“Blessed are those who mourn – they shall be comforted!”
There is little comfort and no healing for those who mourn the loss of a loved one. This is because a unique and irreplaceable person has been lost to us, and we know they will not come back to us. Jesus, however, points to another life, in God’s eternal kingdom, where every tear will be wiped away, and those we have lost awhile will be reunited with us. Real comfort, real healing, His promise.
Mourning is a rock strewn shore,
Harbouring pain and aching void;
Raw memories that tsunami us,
A sorrow surge we cannot avoid.
Crashing tears that, Canute like,
We have no hope of holding back.
Wound-chill that cuts through marrow,
For the loved presence we now lack.
How can such a place be blessed?
What strand of bright sand attracts,
When our heart’s standing is threatened?
Grace? It doesn’t seem to fit the facts.
Where is comforting when what’s lost
Is the irreplaceable, unique beloved?
The vulnerability entailed in loving is
Sprung when that special one is dead.
Anger seems to be the only wage:
Anger with God, ourselves, and yes,
Rude ire towards the one who’s gone;
A noxious feeling, shameful to confess.
The smothering quicksand of sadness,
Awaits those who love enough to grieve.
For Jesus wept for His lost Lazarus;
Nain’s shock reunion had to cleave.
Bleak comfort this side of the grave,
When our wound’s cut won’t close.
Jesus’ repeated promise is shall,
Not now, but then, as He well knows.
Death’s demise and sin’s redundancy,
Promised by Him who astrides time:
Beatific authority of the godhead,
First Cause Uncaused is simply benign.
He who lives in love, God indwells.
And he who mourns has loved and lost.
God will see to it that healing comes,
Jesus crucifixion is comfort’s cost.
Do not be afraid to love, or to lose:
In God’s gift there are no final adieus.