Sharing Your Grief - Day 41

Sharing Your Grief
Day 41

Which of these sentences best describes you? Your spouse? Siblings? Children?
A. I like to open up and share deep-felt emotions as often as possible.
B. I can think of a million things I'd rather do than bring up the pain again by talking about it.

Every person has his or her own way of reacting to grief, and men and women often respond differently.

"My husband still has a hard time just talking about it," says Dora, who lost her daughter. "I think his way of dealing with it is to dive into work, to avoid it, to not talk about it. Many times it causes problems between us because I want to talk about it. For me, it's like he's not validating my suffering by allowing me to share it with him. For him, it's as if I'm opening up his wounds by wanting him to share it with me."

You cannot change another person to grieve in a way that pleases you, but you can give your concerns about that person to God and pray that he or she will someday open up and release those crippling emotions.

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16).

Lord God, it's so important that I share my emotions with others. Only You can soften a heart that is hardened. Once again, I give it to You. Amen.

~ AMEN~ I would have to say that Justice and I are both A. As I said before, I am teaching him to talk about his feelings rather than keep them in and then he explodes later. It is all about trust and believing in me that I will listen when he has fears, concerns, hurt or joy. I take the good and the bad and then help him to talk about it. I think this is the most precious gift a mother can give to her child.
I do feel it is important for me to share my emotions with others. This seems to be the least invasive way to do it. I don't want to bring others to hurt or remind them since some may not have really started their season of grief. I also don't want to rehash any for anyone that has already moved forward and through it. I do, however, pray that I can talk to my friends and family and feel at peace about it.