I've been thinking about a passage we read this past week about two great men in the Bible who performed miracles and spoke out for God in the Old Testament. They were Elijah and Elisha. As a child, I loved hearing the stories of the miracles they performed. Elijah confronted more than one king. Prophesied there would be a three year drought. He prayed for the only child of a widow who died, and the child's life was restored. He drenched an altar for sacrifice with barrels of water, prayed and asked God to light the fire--and it was lit. Elijah performed miracles and ran a marathon when his life was in danger. As he grew older, he knew he needed a companion and helper and he called Elisha.
Soon, it was time for Elijah to die. Elisha knew this was going to happen, but he didn't want to let him go for he loved him so much. Elijah, the elder, was given a special blessing in that he did not have to die, but was taken to heaven alive. .....a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between them, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. Wow! Amazing to me, was Elisha's reaction. Elisha saw it and cried out, My father! My father! The chariots and charioteers of Israel! And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his robe in two. (2 Kings 2: 11, 12) Even though Elisha knew his mentor was going to heaven, he still wept and cried out in grief. It's a normal human reaction. I could give many more examples of godly people in the face of loss where they wept in their grief. Even our Lord and Savior grieved and wept at the loss of his friend.
Jim and I lead a group of people who are going through the great loss of their loved ones, called GriefShare.(www.GriefShare.org) Some sit in silence. Others weep and weep as they recall their loss. Some try to be brave and not cry. They try to be strong.
I don't think our society allows for the mourning period. They give a three day funeral leave and then expect us to return to work in full capacity. My dearest friend wrote last week how she was dealing with her father's death--and how her mind just wasn't working right. She expressed it so eloquently and with her permission, I'm going to include part of what she said:
Grief, it apparently makes you stupid. Or forgetful, same thing really...Things I've done include telling an old family friend from Vancouver Island that Daddy's service was at 1. It was at 11. Of course he missed it. When giving my parents address to my best friend I wrote it down incorrectly (folks have lived here 48 years!). Miraculously they found it! Failed to alert a close friend that we had set the date and time for the service.....I also forgot to make our house payment...that got done yesterday. There's more, but you get the idea.
Dear friends, if you are in mourning, give yourself permission to do just that. Mourn. Remember the person you've said goodbye to. Weep. Forgive your forgetfulness. It's all part of the process. As you walk the road of grief, it will have roadblocks, detours, and "traffic jams". Just keep walking and press on. You will get to the other side of grief. But it takes time and work to get there. Don't give up.
If heroes of the Bible grieve and mourn. If our Savior grieved the death of his friend, we can too. At some point in the future, we can say we've completed our time of mourning. Elisha, the younger, continued the work of his mentor Elijah--and performed even more miracles than Elijah.
We don't have to perform miracles. Observe what Solomon, the wisest man on earth said:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot....a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-4)
Take the time to mourn and weep. Walk the road of grief. You will get to the other side, I promise. You might even dance.
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