Craig Clouston

 Mourn Just a While

January 2

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Matthew 5:4

In a daze at the graveside, the young parents were thinking about that moment three days ago when the switch to the respirator had been turned off. Their infant son, Michael, had been born with no brain function. Prenatal ultrasounds and sonograms had been business as usual. There had been no cause for alarm, no telltale signs, until Michael was born.

A void so vast with a sense of unending pain gripped them as they laid their son to rest. They were to begin grief counseling with their pastor tomorrow. An older couple from church had called last night to offer words of comfort and hope. Right now, comfort was elusive and didn’t feel like an attainable goal. They felt the pain of a loss so unspeakable that it tore at their hearts with relentless realization. Their son was gone! They didn’t know if they would ever recover. Quite honestly, today, they didn’t much care about the future. In time, they would learn that grief is a process. Comfort would come. But today they mourned.

The older couple had reached out in experience. They had lost twin daughters several years before in a car crash. They knew firsthand the pain that gripped this young couple, and they wanted them to know that God could heal their pain. It would not go away immediately, but with love and support, they would weather this storm.

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The loss of a child seems so unfair. Death has a way of seeming final. And comfort is so elusive in a child’s unexpected passing.

Mourning is a process; it teaches us to respect and appreciate the sanctity of life. The process of mourning grows us in ways nothing else can; it causes an urgency of purpose, and focusing on that purpose is where the healing begins.

Death is not the end; it is the promise of a new beginning. Mourning may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

Prayer

“Abba! We cry out in our pain. Bring comfort and peace to those who know this pain. Bring direction to their lives this day. Show them how to bring this pain to You so they might be healed and find peace. In Jesus’ Name, amen.”