I am not saying that it is my favorite thing to do, but grieving is very cleansing for the soul. Everyone needs a good cry every now and again, including men. Although, my husband has said in the past that he has always been afraid to start crying for fear that he may never stop. I have had those cries as well and only stopped because I had depleted my fluids in the flood that had occurred.
I do think that there is a misconception about grief, in that we only grieve when there is a significant loss of a loved one, friend or even a cherished pet. I have now come to the understanding that one of the reasons that we are so "unhappy" as human beings is because we grieve every day over something. You may not realize that you are grieving, which is the main reason that grief isn't purged from your system so that you may move forward to healing. I have grieved so very deeply that I actually felt a tiny part of my soul shredded from the whole of me sliver by sliver as if someone took a cheese grater to deepest part of my heart. This pain came from the loss of my children, the physical loss of them but I have grieved the spiritual loss of them ever since. I grieve the could-have-beens, the should-have-beens and the what-ifs of them.
I grieve for my 8 year old struggling so hard to read and comprehend that there is pain behind her eyes. I grieve for the loss of others because I know the pain they feel. I grieve for the poor and misguided decisions of loved ones and the pain that it is causing. I grieve for the relationships I have never had the privilege to know because someone was taken too soon. I grieve for those that don't seem to have the strength to make themselves better or never learned to forgive. I even grieve over the fact that I can't grieve for everyone and that I have to shut some of it out so that it leaves what I need to care for myself and my family. I grieve for so many things that it does sometimes get me down, but what I have learned is that if you aren't grieving over something or someone it means that you haven't loved or cared deeply enough. Grief is the gift that lets you know how blessed you really are. You were blessed to love so much that it nearly killed you when you lost that love.
So rejoice in the love that you felt, feel the warmth creep back into your soul and keep searching for that big love if you haven't found it yet. When life gives you grief, embrace it, face it and keep moving forward so that you can live while you are alive and recognize the blessings been given. Just remember that you aren't the only one, everyone is faced with struggle and the odds are good that someone else is grieving your pain with you. Release it to Him.
