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Does it ever seem to you like time is spinning out of control, running too fast and too far ahead of you? Here we are, just over halfway through our Lenten journey and preparing our hearts for Palm Sunday, Holy Week, the Triduum, and the highlight of our liturgical year, Easter/Resurrection Sunday. How can we be in April already and preparing for Easter? Weren’t we just celebrating the New Year? Where did the first three months of this year go, and so fast? Maybe the apparent “time warp” is caused by our heavy-laden grieving hearts being held back in sorrow or our subconscious minds still trying to process what we’ve just been through in our losses. Whatever the case, don’t feel like you are alone in this struggle and understand that this is just a season.
What does this mean for us who are grieving? Our subconscious minds and grief have their own timetable. You may not realize it but your mind and you’re your internal body clock are already thinking about the next hurdle or milestone in your grief journey. Our internal grief clock is typically a month ahead of the actual calendar. For that reason, this month’s Bereavement Bulletin addresses the next set of challenging milestone events: the Easter Season and Mother’s Day. Both of these holidays typically involve the gathering of families and the need to plan the level of involvement you want to deal with along your grief journey. Maybe the departed loved one was a key figure in the family gatherings and their role remains unoccupied or maybe their absence is more than you can manage in a group setting. I have included several articles to help settle our minds on the encouraging Easter promise, that Jesus (and our departed loved ones) remain in our hearts and carry us through the challenging days ahead.
Special days like Mother’s Day can be bittersweet days for those grieving the absence of a dear matriarch and for parents grieving the loss or estrangement of beloved children. For this reason, we provide early supportive articles to prepare tender hearts with practical ways to ease the heartache which surface around this time and intensifies as it the day approaches.
In all seasons and in all types of grief, it is important to remember that you never walk alone. You have a loving Heavenly Father who accompanies you every step of every day and even carries you when you no longer have the strength to go on. If you turn to Him, who never leaves you or forsakes you (Deuteronomy 31:8), you can experience Him carrying your heavy crosses and lifting you up out of your brokenness to new strengths, and new hopes and dreams. Feel the closeness of His presence as he walks and talks with you and lovingly speaks your name. See the tenderness in His eyes and the warmth in His smile. He cares for you deeply and is working things out to replace your brokenness with joy and new purpose. As Jesus walked the road to Emmaus with the grief-stricken disciples, allow Him to accompany you on the road of your grief journey.
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