Some Helps for the Grieving
/In my search to write another blog, I was looking through some files here at the BASIS office and I came across two brief items. I was helped by what I discovered. I pray that you might be helped too, in your journey, as you read and reflect on what follows.
To Those Who Hurt…
- Those things that hurt, instruct. - Ben Franklin
- We tend to see life as an idealized journey of our own making without any hills or unexpected turns. We plan for the future and we build up unrealistic expectations of what life should be like. Deep down, we all expect to keep our health, our loved ones, and our possessions throughout our lives. But loss is inevitable in life. - Ron Davis
- Grieving is as natural as crying when you are hurt, sleeping when you are tired, eating when you are hungry, or sneezing when your nose itches. - Anonymous
To Those Who Want to Be There for Us…
- Ministering to the hurting means removing your watch.
- “Being there” offers comfort. Taking time to visit shows that you are willing to share your painful emotions.
- It isn’t for the moment you are struck that you need courage but for the long uphill climb back to sanity and faith and security. – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- A good listener becomes a personal intensive care unit.
- A father whose child had died was asked what was most helpful to him. He replied simply, “My father was helpful because he cried.”
- The hurt need most – someone to listen, and in that listening – CARE!
- So often we struggle for some words of comfort when what the bereaved really need and desire is to be embraced, or simply touched; to share tears that reflect a profound sense of loss on the part of the minister as well as the one being ministered to.
