The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow, and Life Will Go On

            My older brother, Bill, died suddenly of a blood clot to the lung.  It devastated Momma, not only having to bury her child but it grieved her that she wasn't there and she didn't get to kiss him and tell him good-by.  

           A couple of months after Bill's funeral, I went with Momma to see her cancer doctor for a routine check-up.  This particular doctor was one of those genuinely kind and caring physicians and when he asked Momma how she was doing, she began to cry.  Then she told him about Bill dying and how she missed her son.  

The doctor gently took her face in his hands and looked directly at her.  Then he said, "You love him.  You will always love him.  So you get up every morning, you think about him and you have yourself a good, hard cry.  Then you get up, you wash your face, and you go on with your day."

        It was tremendous advice and was undoubtedly shared from the doctor's own personal experience and broken heart.  In the years that followed, I saw Momma do that and it helped her continue on.

        When you bury someone that you love with all your heart and you're in the blackness of grief, you know that life will never be the same ever again.  You feel like you are in the darkest midnight possible and that you will never again see the light of day.  And even though you don't want to even think about it, the reality is that the sun does come up tomorrow and life does go on.  

       And, yes, we go on without that loved one.  Truthfully, most days we go on only because the Lord is holding us, carrying us through each moment.  We don't have the strength to go on ourselves and He doesn't expect us to.  The Bible says in Psalm 46:1 " God is our refuge and strength, ..."

      Jesus wants us to press in hard to Him, let Him hold us and heal us.  He knows our pain, He knows our grief, and He loves us with an everlasting love.  He wants us to cry out to Him in the midst of our sorrow and He is always near to comfort us.

      Grief is the other side of love.  It also reminds us of how precious that person was to us and keeps their memory tender.  Grief was never meant to destroy us, but it will if we let it.  Like any other hardship in life, it can make us better or bitter depending on how we choose to respond to it.  

The sun will come up tomorrow and life will go on.  

So we remember our loved one and we have a good cry.  Then we get up and hold God's hand as we go on into our day.

      Shared in love,

                             Cris