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Healing
Grief |
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by Rev. Christopher Ian
Chenoweth |
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this page to a friend
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"What is sown
is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown
BUT it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a
physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, the
first person became a living being: the last became a life-giving spirit.
But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the
spiritual. The first person was from the earth, a person of dust; the
second person is from heaven. As was the person of dust, so are those who
are of the dust; and as is the person of heaven, so are those who are of
heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the human of the dust, we will
also bear the image of the human of heaven." |
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- First Corinthians 15:42-49 |
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Life is a road that
winds among the hills of time.
With every turn in the
road an old view vanishes,
a new view appears. Life is a pilgrimage, a
passage through eternity, and a journey into the unknown.
People are as
travelers on the journey. |
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Life, being of God and actually being an
extension of God into God's creation, can under no conditions be lost.
Life is eternal. It never ceases to exist. Although invisible to us, our
loved one's life continues. |
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Life does not move
toward death.
It moves toward
more life.
It turns
death into life.
It turns inanimate matter into life.
It turns lesser
forms of life into higher forms of life.
It invents. It evolves. |
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It
shapes itself
into new and ever more
various forms,
with greater
capacities for living.
It moves from brute to human,
and from human...!
Even now the life force
is pressing to outstrip itself,
to surpass and
overtop
all that it has so far done. |
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Life does not go
backward. Life goes forward.
Life is like Napoleon's
drummer boy.
It does not know how to be retreat.
Its bugles, even
blowing Requiem,
sound for the living and are a call to life.
When the
winding of the horn has died away
upon the air
and pulses only in our heart,
we lift our eyes to green endeavors. |
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For our loved one,
passing through death is really a birth into a new and
better world. Those who are left behind should not grieve as if there
were no hope. Life is changed, not taken away. Our loved one lives on in
a world beautiful beyond anything we can imagine. With God, our loved one
awaits the day when they will welcome us in joy.
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What happens when
our loved one goes through
the experience that we humans
call death?
This is simply the separation of the soul from the body.
The
body is merely the clothing
that the soul has worn for a time.
In this
process called death, the clothing is discarded,
and the soul goes on to
its next experience
in divine unfoldment.
The soul of the one you loved
was not in the casket.
This was but the body that housed the individual.
The soul, the spiritual being, is now too great
to be confined by
that body.
As we lay aside a garment at the end of the day,
so our loved
one has laid aside
the garment of the flesh.
Their soul continues another
sphere of life.
Although invisible to us,
they continue their soul
experience.
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We pray that we are
firmly established in the
understanding of God's love
for us.
We, as humans, wish for those whom we love
only that, which is
for their good.
If we knowingly had the power,
we would insure that good
to them.
If our human love would do so much,
how much more will the love
of God do!
We readily forgive those whom we love.
We help them to
overcome, to manifest wisdom and strength.
How much more does God love
and help.
God is love itself!
God is loving and helping your loved one
now.
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Our grief for the
departed is not usually grief FOR THEM because they are
with God and are happy again. Our grief is for ourselves because we shall
miss them and because we seem to be separated from them. |
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We take from
bereavement its greatest power to distress us, when we realize, in fact,
our grief is FOR OURSELVES. Death is not a period, but a comma in the
story of life. |
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The Traveler |
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by James Dillet Freeman
They have put on invisibility
Dear Lord, I cannot see --
But this I know, although the road ascends
And passes from my sight;
That there will be no night;
That You will take them gently by the hand
And lead them on
Along the road of life that never ends,
And they will find it is not death but dawn.
I do not doubt that You are there as here,
And You will hold them dear.
Our life did not begin with birth,
It is not of the earth;
And this that we called death, it is no more
Than the opening and closing of the door --
And in Your house how many rooms must be
Beyond this one where we rest momently.
Dear Lord, I thank you for the faith that
frees,
The love that knows it cannot lose its own,
The love that, looking through the shadows see
That you and (he/she) and I are ever one.
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Let us pray,
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Dear God, by Your grace I am sustained, and comforted from my sorrow. My
heart is at peace for I am one with You. My faith has told me so. I draw
nearer to You, dear God, that I may be nearer to my loved one who is with
You. Dear God, help me to know perfectly that life is eternal, and death
but a shadow that hides from my earthly sight the unseen world into which
my dear one has stepped. Love knows no boundaries, and the love of my
heart now reaches into the beyond. Dear God, You did not lose when You
gave my dear one to me, and I cannot lose when my beloved returns to Your
eternal home. Still in the shadow of Your protection, still in Your
loving care, only into another room has my dear one gone. This I know,
even as I know You are ever watchful over us. As to life in this other
room, I trust that to You. I know that when the veils of uncertainty are
fully lifted from my vision, I shall see clearly into this room, and know
perfectly all that is now hidden. Help me, dear God, to understand the
mystery of eternal life. Someday, I shall understand. Until then, I am
content to know that my beloved is with You, safe in your everlasting
arms. I know that this loved one and I will cross paths again, our minds
and hearts will touch; our souls will shout with joy and laughter as we
recall the lives that we have lived, the worlds we've seen, the ways we've
trod to find ourselves -- at last -- in You God.
In Jesus Christ's name...Amen
Dear friend, I invite you, and encourage you, to send this page
to those that are needing this message of comfort.
Just click on the "Send this page" link on the right end
of the banner at the top of this page.
God bless you! Have a great life filled with God's goodness.
Reverend Christopher Ian Chenoweth, Founder, |
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Positive
Christianity
(http://www.PositiveChristianity.org/) |
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