Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness – Psalm 30:11
Grief is an undesired choice,
Greeted with a wailing voice.
Even if alerted to its arrival,
Hope clings to denial—
That you’ll never see
Such a horrible reality.
So, this unwanted friend
Is remorsefully shown in.
When asked how long it’ll stay,
Grief will never say.
A few months or much longer?
To be made weaker or stronger?
The answers won’t be found
By mourning the one no longer around,
But in a willingness to take into tomorrow
Comforting memories, not a robe of sorrow.
If you have experienced grief, particularly from the death of a loved one, the opening poem may very well have spoken to your pain. I’ve discovered that as difficult as it is to lose those you love, it’s just as hard to move from the robe of sorrow to the robe of a hopeful tomorrow, unless God is included in the process.