Jimbo's Jots

I’m reading through a book loaned to me written by Janet Wehr, Peaceful Passages. Janet is a hospice nurse and wrote stories about the people she helped “pass from this life to the next life.” I also lead a group in the fall through GriefShare, a Bible study to help process the death of a loved one. I just got back from cleaning out a storage unit we rented after my dad passed away nine years ago. So you can efficiently conclude that death and dying have been on my mind lately.

As I read through Wehr’s book, lead GriefShare and even picking up stuff including dad’s tools, I’m continually reminded of how unprepared we are for death from a “survivor’s” perspective. Even with my father-in-law, who dealt with Parkinson’s for 12 years before he passed, and spent the last 3-6 months in a hospital bed with nurses and aides coming to help him, there was always that sense that he would continue to live. I think we just feel that we’re going to live forever and they’re going to live forever.

Saying “Goodbye” to our loved one is not easy – never will be. Having thoughts of my two sisters, my dad, my father-in-law, grandparents, and my partner in ministry occur almost on a daily basis.

Here is what I have learned:

• The path we walk in grief is never easy and seems unending, but in time, the path will get a little smoother.
• We grieve because we love (actually something Zig Ziglar said). And it’s true! Our grief is because we have a relationship with that person. The stronger the relationship, the deeper the grief.
• Our sadness in grief is temporary if we are in Christ. Paul says, we do “not grieve as others do who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Be blessed and be a blessing!