Sad Week
This is turning out to be a bad week. By bad, I mean a sad week. We will lose two pets this week. If you’re initial reaction is “well, they’re just pets”, you might as well cruise on past this message. If you’re still with me, pets have been and are a part of our family. But in this message is not about how to deal with grief. I’m not qualified.
We have had pets our entire married life. Since we’ve been together 38 years, we’ve lost several friends together. I would say we treat our pets well. Somewhere better than we buy them high quality food and something less than we’d pay for a hip replacement surgery for them. Luckily, we’ve always agreed that when their quality of life is gone, we’re comfortable helping them on their way to the rainbow bridge.
This week we will lose two pets. One that has gone downhill over a couple of months and one that we suddenly lost. Both family members will be missed. We will take comfort in knowing that we provided them a good life and loved them.
When we experience someone with a heartache, we, okay I, tend to weigh what they are grieving about to determine how much empathy to apply. When our next door neighbor lost their mother - we reached out to them and see how they are doing and if there is anything we can do to help. We’re going to try to followup with them too knowing that expressions of empathy tend to dry up over time. However, if you tell me your goldfish went to the rainbow flush, I’m likely to say “ah” and move on.
This week is reminding me that the above described evaluation process is wrong. I have no idea of what you are going through in a grieving process and I certainly can’t measure the extent of your sorrow.
“Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.” -
“Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.” -
“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” -
“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” - 1 Peter 3:8 ESV
Lord, create in me a kind heart open to helping my brothers and sisters go through their emotional challenges with the empathy they need and not what I think they need. Let me approach all interpersonal relationships with gentleness and understanding.
