good grief.

grief doesn't have an expiration date.


my grandfather passed away in january.  i'm not one to get super emotional...but i cried.  and every time a man walks by wearing old spice i get a little nostalgic.

a cousin that i hadn't seen in years ended his life a few years ago.  i am still so angry with him.  we had just gotten in touch again.  and now he's gone.  because he wasn't a part of my life for so long i will go days at a time without thinking of him...and then every once in awhile i am reminded and i am broken hearted all over again.

my husband's father died over 20 years ago...he doesn't go a day without missing his dad...and because i love my husband...i sometimes grieve over the father-in-law that i never got to meet.

we grieve over other losses too.  when friendships end...when things change...even when things change for the better...sometimes we find ourselves longing for what was comfortable.  for instance...we just got new living room furniture.  it is really beautiful.  but i found myself a little sad that we were going to be losing the 15 year old hand-me-down couch that i had spent so much time on thru my rough pregnancies.  ...i know...i'm pathetic.

grief is healthy...natural...it is good to allow ourselves to feel these waves of emotion as they ebb and flow. but it isn't something i would put in the 'fun' category.

in the book of isaiah (25th chapter) it says '...he'll banish death forever. And God will wipe the tears from every face.'  that's refreshing...and encouraging. 

no matter how much we have lost...and how bitterly we have wept in mourning...He will get out His all-absorbant...never soggy hanky and wipe the tears.  and we will never have anything to grieve over...ever again.