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Mourning, Forgiveness, & Endurance

When was the last time you got in a funk? Not an argument with your spouse or teen, or even a bad day, but in a morphed state for a period of time. Perhaps a new level of anger clenched more than just your fists but your heart. Maybe someone abandoned you unceremoniously. Perchance, you were in a scuffle with disappointment over your own behavior or performance. 


Whatever the scenario, we have all been in the place of unshakable demeanor altering unpleasantness.


A creep's comment can be plucked from under your skin with a new hairdo, handbag, or box of gourmet chocolates; but if the remark irritated a deeper issue, the usual distractions would not alleviate the sting. 


Whatever shall we do when favored indulgences fail to suffice and we can't change the people who hurt us?


Scripture points to the not so popular tool of mourning. Not only do we hate to mourn, but most of us doubt its power to help heal. We fear the beginning of tears will unleash a never-ending river, and we would rather find a solution.  


Sadly, our resistance to grief leaves us in a persistent state of underlying and disguised distress. Ouch!


Allow me to remind you that there is an entire book of the Bible titled Lamintations. So be like the Isrealites, or Job when he refused to deny his reality, or the weeping prophet Jeremiah, or Naomi who changed her name to Mara. Let your heartache become a cry to your Lord.


Once you have fully mourned, you must move on to the second, even more unpopular technique of forgiveness.  


We instinctively know that mourning could go on forever, but we miss that the finality is found in absolution. You may have to forgive someone who continually tries to harm you or someone who no longer walks the earth. It may not be a person at all but a series of events, a company, or God. Or most challenging of all, you may have to forgive yourself.


The duo of mourning and forgiveness comes down to expression and release. We earthlings are made for both and often don't like either. 


Fortunately we have a promise in Revelation 21:4, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (KJV)


The absence of pain will be the new order of things because we will have perfect union with God as His bride and He will make His dwelling among His people. 


Until then, we are subject to this system. This world's frustrations, pain, disappointments, anger, trials, and persecutions motivate us to tap into the tools of mourning and forgiveness.  


Implementation of our two detested practices turns tribulations into connection. Sometimes, that connection is with loved ones, or even a foe. Occasionally, we more authentically connect to ourselves.  In all the connecting, we ought to be sure to commune with God, for that is where endurance is found. 


What might you need to mourn? Are you holding onto any grudge or offense that could be blocking the connection you desire? Does the process of mourning and forgiveness that leads to connection and endurance sound life giving to you?
















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