The Power in You (A Personal Testimony) — Part Two

It's Okay to Cry

To Grief is to Heal:

Grief and time have their own healing effect. In fact, Seneca puts it this way, "Time heals what reason cannot." Wow! Even God did not stop David from crying. Crying is therapeutic. It is cleansing. If anyone is grieving, please, let them grieve. Nothing is more harmful than premature treatment. There are mental and physical health implications of not grieving appropriately.

So, if you see anyone grieving, please, let them grieve. Let them heal. We should remember that grieving, though a painful process, ultimately helps us move forward when allowed to run its course. Reasonings might heal some. You might be able to rationalize some things. However, some things might never make sense. Only time can cause them to fizzle away. The hormones secreted into the bloodstream need time to fizzle out.

Some things need an eternity to make sense of. Those need time to melt down in your heart. Those need a soothing touch of love and reassurance, which needs time to penetrate deep enough to cause the effect. It is not in the words said but in the assurance of friendship, family, and love; the assurance of presence, care and connectedness; the feeling of being seen, counted, and recognized, not just mere statistics.

Give Time for Healing:

Give time for grief to lose its force. Let it be softened by time so it can endure the remedies. Yes, life needs to go on, but you don't want to be too much in a hurry. "Don't tell someone to get over it. Help them get through it." (Sue Fitzmaurice) Religious people out of their ignorance try to talk away grieving in several different ways. They try to explain the unexplainable. Like the popular God needs an angel in heaven.

Really? Unknown to them, in their stupidity, they paint God as wicked. People grieving don't need needless fake explanations. They just need presence. They need to know they are being seen, they are not alone. May God continue to deliver us from the chains of religion. "The glory of the Christian life is that we have a hope that overwhelms grief. It doesn't eradicate it. It overwhelms it." (Tim Keller)

If you don't settle records with your past, it will forever haunt you, especially when you least expect it and at the most opportune moment. David and his men cried till they could cry no more. They got to the end of their grief. Only then could they be touched and handled by the solutions.

© 2015 Akin Akinbodunse.

Link Study Series:

The Power in You (A Personal Testimony) — Part One

Links to Related Articles:

Choose Life (Part Thirty-Eight): Why Are We Here?

Choose Life (Part Forty): Purpose

Links to Other Resources:

Rebirth (Julianna Olayode)

Saving Ourselves from Suicide (Linda Pacha)