No glory...

 No glory...

Yesterday I finally did something I have been putting off...not that I haven’t been thinking about...

I can procrastinate when I want to...

But, this week is the first week of “Griefshare “, a video class to help those who are grieving the loss of a loved one...

I needed to review the video again...clear out my notebook, get ready for new participants...get online again to register the class, invite those who signed up, invite those who may just watch the video online...just get ready...

Popping the video into the tv, I watched it while I treaded on the treadmill...

The theme, “from mourning to joy, a journey” kept coming through, an oxymoron, as I was treading, going nowhere, which can be what we feel when into grieving...no clear path out of the craziness and pain...but, there is a path out...there is hope...

It was pouring rain outside...the buckets of tears we may spill...in this process...

Then I had to clear out my binder from past classes...I read each name as I pulled the registration sheets out...remembering their faces, their stories, their tears, their journeys toward joy after mourning...praying that the new people would face their grief and move forward...

Then this morning, I was reading  the beginning of 1 Samuel...grief...

And a calling...Samuel is called and hears the Lord...his mentor, Eli is old, whose sons are killed in battle, grieves and dies...Eli’s daughter-in-law grieves for her husband, her father-in-law, the nation who has lost the Ark of God in battle...giving birth to a son and dies as she is naming her baby...”Ichabod” which means “no Glory”...

Grieving is no fun...it is hard work...it affects us physically, emotionally, spiritually...there is “no glory” in it...we have lost a loved one by some means....but we can choose to walk the path to healing, recovery...and maybe on to Joy...the journey may be fraught with battles, setbacks, tears, regrets...we may lose a few battles, but we can win the War against grief...God is there with us, for us, comforting is we choose...His Glory does come through as we work through the grief...

Thank YOU...

His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention. She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, “The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

1 Samuel 4:19-22