Late Night Visitor – Grief and Joy
Living with grief takes a toll on one’s emotions, health, and spiritual life. There is a time to mourn just as there is a time to laugh; so I had an idea. I put grief and joy in the same room with me (with 6 feet separation and we are all wearing masks). Here is what happened.
Grief: “Hi Kristine, are you going to introduce me to your friend?”
Me: “Hi Grief. Yes, I am going to introduce you to my friend. Grief, this is Joy, Joy this is Grief.”
(Neither can they shake hands, nor can they see a smile on each other’s face, so they nod to each other.)
Joy: “Hello, Grief.
Grief: “Hello, Joy.”
Me: “Grief, Joy, I brought you two together because I need you to know that you both exist in my life. Grief, you and I were spending way too much time together and it was taking a toll on my concentration. I had some negative comments when you were at your peak, but not everyone knows how tight we have been and it just looked like I was not on my game. I was reading the Bible one day and I met Joy.
As the Bible states in Ecclesiastes 3:4 it is okay that both of you are in my life. The verse says, “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance”. I don’t always want to be sad and I don’t always feel like laughing or dancing, but whatever emotion I want to feel, I need you two to respect, as well as, get out of the way of the other. I would like to send you away, Grief, but Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble, but He has overcome the world and that is why Joy needs to step in between us more often. I am hanging onto Jesus’s promises rather than settling in with sadness. Jesus overcoming this world is really good news for me because I cannot do this alone or with my own strength.”
Living with grief takes a toll on one’s emotions, health, and spiritual life. Let Jesus in with the joy He has in store for you and watch your emotions, health, and spiritual life be rejuvenated.