Embracing The Grief

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

- Matthew 5:4

In Jesus’ second Beatitude in his Sermon on the Mount, he describes a blessed life in the most surprising terms.

Blessed are those who mourn? I don’t know about you, but those aren’t the first words I would expect when it comes to a blessed life.

I would rather hear, “Blessed are those who succeed.” Or, “Blessed are those who ignore their emotions and drown them out with social media….” Or, maybe that’s just me?

We live in a culture and society that responds to grief in one of two extremes – either we over glorify it and make every Facebook post, coffee date, and phone conversation about the difficult thing we’re going through. Our problems turn into our identity. Or, we vacillate far in the other direction and ignore, numb, and shove down all negative emotions. But the reality is, you can’t numb one without numbing all, and we consequently numb the good with bad, living disengaged lives.

Jesus invites us into a different way.

It’s significant that “Blessed are those who mourn,” comes after “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This order is intentional, and reminds us that we first must realize our NEED for God before we can truly understand mourning and grief.

Because without God, mourning has no solution, grief has no purpose. But when we realize we are poor in spirit, then we know the source of our grief – sin – and the solution to our grief: Jesus, our Great Comforter. We find blessing in the mourning, because we will be comforted when we run to the arms of God.

Jesus suddenly gives us understanding of why we are suffering, and the correct response to suffering. Think of the last thing you cried about, I’ll guarantee you it was connected to the sin and brokenness of our world. Think of the last time you felt true peace and comfort, I guarantee it was from God, whether you knew it or not.

Jesus actually invites his followers to see the blessing of mourning because it means we have the perspective to see how broken our world is.

When we know how good God is, we can better see how awful everything that is NOT of Him truly is. But then we also, in that grief, have the opportunity to develop a stronger bond with our Comforter.

So embrace the mourning. Grieve your sin and your rebellious nature that pulls you away from God. Because He will show up and bring you right back into the fold. Mourn the way the brokenness of our world has taken from you. Because God will point your perspective towards an eternity wiped clean of sin.

Oh friend, it’s so much easier said than done. Even just this week I was dealing with a lot of anxiety about a certain situation. I spent each morning begging God to take it away. And I still hope He will. But whether He does or doesn’t, that is up to Him. But whether I choose to allow the grief to push me towards surrender and rebellion, that is up to my free will.

Which will you choose? We will suffer in this life, but I’d rather do it with our Great Comforter.

I’d rather watch Him weave every wrong thing into a beautiful story of redemption. Won’t you join me in that journey?

Cristina Schmitter