Good Grief

Saying for the Day: No two people grieve the same!

For the last eleven Sundays we have looked at grieving.
We have examined what Pastor Granger Westberg called the ten steps in grieving.
His book which is not very big called “Good Grief” is available form Amazon.com .

Today I just want to make a few last statements about grief.

First no two people grieve the same.
Grief is the path from our old life with the person that is now gone to our new life without them.
The more of ourselves we have invested in the old life the harder the path to the new.

A friend of mine was a missionary in Africa when his father died.
He received word.
He grieved for a day or two and then life went on as normal.
Why?
Because his father was not part of his life on the mission field.
Several months later when he went home on furlough and he stood in his old home he was almost overcome with grief.
His father was a central part of his life there.

Even when we have done everything right there can come things that trigger a short new grief experience.
It might be a song on the radio or entering a place the two of you enjoyed.
This is a very normal thing.

Sometimes we do most of our grieving before the person dies.
WE know the person is dying.
We watch them go down hill and we grieve.
Our life is already changing.
Sometimes people who have grieved in this manner feel guilty because they didn’t have much grief after the death.
But they shouldn’t the grief had already taken place.
Their life had changed and now they just feel relief for the person who doesn’t have to suffer any more.

The best thing we can do for somebody who is grieving is to be there for them.
Let them tell the story a hundred times.
Let them cry.
Pray with them and for them.
But be there.

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News from Pigeon Falls– The little town in my backyard where trains still run and a big White Rabbit keeps the tourists coming.– Pigeon Falls was hit by a blizzard and we are including some pictures to show you how bad it was. This is October. The roofs fell in on two buildings. One wall collapsed on Eino’s garage. The old snowplow can’t get the city street free from snow. If this keeps up it will need the dragon fire to keep it warm. It looks like a long winter ahead.
The train did get through and dropped off a young man in a trench coat who went to visit Eino. They had to go to Nancy’s because Eino had people trying to restore one wall of the garage. The fellow told Eino he was from Homeland Security and the government wanted him to be quiet about the Hermit statue . It was a matter of national security. But he wouldn’t tell Eino any more than that. Eino asked for some identification and the man got up and left. Eino had to pay for his coffee. Eino called Homeland Security and they denied that they had sent anybody. Now Eino is more confused than ever.
Mrs. Trumble says she is going to buy a snowmobile so she can go hunting that rabbit in the snow. It will leave tracks and she can follow them.
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Today's link: Mando's World: - Remember to put the words Dr. John in the comment to get those pretty JCPOINTS. Check your points HERE.
Yesterday Margaret violated the one rule this blog has. "Thou shall not tag Dr. John". It was a gross violation of the rule. Now rules exist for a purpose. When Dr. John gets tagged he gets all tense, his hair stands on end, his heart rate goes up, he sneezes, he gets cranky, and his concentration is lost. Poor Betty has to calm him down, put an ice pack on his head and say soothing things to him. You see he plans out his blogs a week in an advance. He is over organized. Upsetting that organization derails the train. Where will he put the tag? Which great and deep thought must be discarded to be replaced by tagged drivel. Ordinarily he would ignore the tag . But this is from Margaret who single handedly saved the marathon with her copy of list five. This is Margaret who always leaves good comments. He has a moral obligation to respond. So despite his need to help you understand the universe Dr. John has decided to replace Wednesday's blog which was entitled " The answer to everything", in which he would have given you the key to life and the universe, with the tag. Because of his need to stay with the organization Dr. John will simply discard Wednesday's original blog.
WE went to early service this morning. The sermon was good and the singing not bad. Had coffee afterward. The coffeew was good. Then we went grocery shoping. In the afternoon I worked on the prize list for tomorrow's drawing. Betty worked at fixing the outside layout. She has to climb up on top to get to things and that leaves me out. She then took pictures of the entire layout as we get ready to close it down for the year. Well I need a breathing treatment.