C.S. Lewis lost his wife late in life, “In a Grief Observed” he wrote about it.” He too had fell head-long into the vortex of whirling thoughts and feelings and dizzily groped for support and guidance deep in the dark chasm of grief.” Never have I experienced a writer’s ability to depict what happens when one grieves as clearly as C.S. Lewis traversed us with his writing. “The mind tries to reassure the heart that all is well, then a sudden earthquake of pain erupts any and all sense of well-being: ” a sudden jab of red-hot memory and all this ‘commonsense’ vanishes like an ant in the mouth of a furnace.” “The mind can only go so far to convince the heart in the way of suffering. In this acute phase of loss, emotions rule the day. Desperate longings for the one who is gone or the One who should be ever present are met with empty return.” In his well described journey through grief, he said that there were times that his lifeline to God, once secure; became a questionable rope,” I thought I trusted in the rope until it mattered to me whether it would bear me.” Seeing loved ones and friends pass away around us can cause people to question where they are at in their faith. In the end, C.S. Lewis sees God as the great iconoclast who offers remedial pain-to hurt in order to heal.”” The tortures are necessary. Christ suffered for us. God is indeed good. This realization brings about a lighter heart, a lifting of sorrow, a clearing of tears, a moment of clarity and release. His passions no longer block God from view.” This is just a small segment of his writing, he takes you deeply through stage by stage. Clearly, he chose not to stay in the sanctuary of grief, rather transitions through the pain –to a different, a better place- to move forward, trust God, then let go of the pain.
We must learn to do this with every circumstance, disappointment, loss, daily! Many people do not process through the pain that we endure everyday as we live and navigate through life. They believe that grief is only for the departed loved one, though this is very necessary as we talked about. As soon as we are wounded, we need to learn to grieve the pain, grieve the losses and make a choice to let go of the pain. Failure to do this can cause our vision to God to be blocked. Let go of the grief. Daily.
As Christ was dying for us on the cross, He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do…”, we too must daily forgive those who have disappointed us, robbed us, humiliated us, who have not understood who we are and have hurt us. We must forgive those who have hurt us. Choose to grieve all the pain, all the loss and let the pain go daily. Christ rose again so that we have another chance for eternal life, give all your pain and grief to Him, lay it all at His feet daily. Trust Him only with your life
today.