Easter Eve - A Euphoric Grief

Last week I had to say goodbye to a friend moving across the country. There is something about this that caused me to grieve, as if losing a loved one. We had only known each other for eight months - but in those eight months we experienced a lifetime type of comradery. His little girl cried on the front row of the church. I sat down to comfort him as he comforted his daughter, hoping for comfort of my own. My tears were as near the surface as hers. But although there was a sadness, it seemed like a healthy sadness; a sadness to be glad about, strangely enough.

This made me think about grief. Here is what I conclude:

This grief is part of a groaning that that longs for a day when all shall be redeemed. I wonder at times if all grief is simply a part of God's plan for us to experience creation's groans. It forces us to a place of longing; aching for the day when separation will no longer be necessary.

I begin to think of everything I grieve over.

I grieve over distant friendships
I grieve over vanished intimacy
I grieve over past and present mistakes
I grieve over forsaken opportunities
I grieve over angry words
I grieve over the tears of my wife: the tears I needlessly caused
I grieve over loved ones who are no longer on this earth
I grieve over personal foolishness
I grieve over my short memory
I grieve over my children and the broken world from which they will experience pain
I grieve over my impatience and intolerance
I grieve over living in a superficial culture
I grieve over a groaning creation
I grieve over being another 'chief of sinners'

Here's the upside. Grief is not all unhealthy and injurious. In fact, I am going to celebrate and exult in my grief - as strange as that sounds. I will be glad in my grief because it puts an authenticity and depth in my spirit. I will rejoice in my grief because it is what makes me ... me. I will rejoice in my grief because it puts me in a place of fellowship with Christ, who bore my grief and who was wounded for my sin and my shame. Sorrow for this day is quite alright. It is in this grieving that I experience the rare and relentless grace of Christ.

So I rejoice in grief for the glory of His grace.