Mourning

“God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Mourning is tied to grief. When we lose someone close our emotions need to express our sorrow. 

I still remember the Greek mommas giving birth back in the seventies. They would cry and scream. I imagine that in sorrow they would do similar. Westerners do not do it so well. They internalise their grief and it causes themselves great pain.

I don’t know how it came to pass but now that I am living in Nepal I make a lot of noise when I am hurt physically. The first time I fell cracking a bone I screamed, but what I screamed was: “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, healing, healing, healing!” The local Nepali mummas came running. What beautiful people! They tended to me and cared for me whilst I had preparations made to go to hospital. Twice more after this has a similar thing happened and twice more I have screamed the same. However, now I get up in faith and say, “You are God Lord and I trust you to make me well.” And He does!

When my mother died it was the beginning of COVID in Australia. I was confined to my flat where I was now living alone. I had to process my grief alone with my dog and the Lord.

I cut off all my hair and even shaved my head. In Nepal the men shave their heads if a male member of their paternal father dies. Why did I do it? I can’t give a full explanation other than it was a new beginning for me and I was living in isolation, and it was autum leading to winter. I figured it would grow in time for summer and I was no longer going to dye my hair. It took longer than I expected to regrow.

We mourn the loss of things and animals. I mourned the loss of my dogs the same as I would people. They were close little buddies to me. My last dog, Oscar, I mourned giving him up to go to Nepal for 18 months. It is only recently that the grief has lifted.

It is good to allow yourself to mourn! Involve the Lord in the process. He cares and will be with you. Amen!