Permission to Grieve
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
We all have suffered loss in our life and we need to give permission to ourselves and others to grieve at their own pace. Loss doesn’t only fall into the category of a loved one, it could be the loss of a job or a dream that never came to be.
In my life I have experienced loss in many different ways and on many different levels. There was a season that I endured letting go of seven loved ones within an eight year period of time. Each one of these was significant in their own right to my life but to lose them all within such a short time period was extremely piercing to my heart.
I lost my mom and dad, my brother, my aunt and uncle, and two of my four sons. These are unimaginable losses to weigh on the heart of one person. Thankfully, my faith was not shaken, yet grew stronger. I was able to cope and step forward into a new day from the beautiful example my son Leo portrayed. His example in return, prepared the hearts of all those that I lost and the ones that were left behind.
Thankfully I also had the comfort and support of my husband to fall back on. We allowed the space that each of us needed and seemed to realize that our own way of processing and grieving weren’t always going to line up with each other. By giving the grace that each of us deserved, we found a way to climb the mountain before us, maybe not always at the same pace, but we willingly waited for each other to catch up. It was through this level of patience that we were able to see things from opposite perspectives at times, and yet still find each other by the other’s side.
