Mourning to Morning

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

The wonderful thing about this beatitude is that the blessing comes before we must face the loss. God places us on the road of preparation before we ever experience the individual grief. Grief comes in many forms as we live our lives. Obviously, the most severe form of grief is the death of a loved one.

Personally speaking, this beatitude has been put to the test and has proven it's worth in gold! The comfort that God has brought me in the loss of my loved ones has been unparalleled and ‘beyond understanding.’ Don’t get me wrong – I have felt the sting of salty tears in my eyes, more tears than I would ever wish to shed. But the comfort that has been mine has held back the flood of uncontrolled emotions much like the waters being held back for the crossing of the Jordan. God laid on my heart the truth that He called my loved ones home and they found eternal life free from all pain and suffering. God’s nature is always love which is His motivation for everything. Grief places our focus on our pain - not on our loved one’s gain. We approach our loved one’s death as me-first, then them instead of them-first, then us. It is our humanity crying out.

Psalm 139:16 states my highest form of comfort. ‘You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.’ “The concept is that God has a departure date for us. He knows the exact time we will enter eternity. God does not see time the way we see time. God measures one’s success not in terms of longevity but rather as fulfillment of one’s God-given purpose in life.” Zig Ziglar

“Success is finishing what God gave you to do. From the world’s viewpoint, these things are great tragedies. But from the divine perspective, this was an incredible triumph, for each of our losses has represented them having finished well the appointed tasks they had been given to do by the Lord before their births.” Rev Harold Cook

My grandmother told of an afternoon when she had visited my grandfather’s grave 4 weeks after his death. She stated that for one moment in time she felt that God allowed her to feel the full extent of her grief at his gravesite. She couldn’t believe the amount of comfort that God had lavished upon her days since Granddaddy’s death. It was at that moment that she realized the full extent of this beatitude. She laid her mourning on the lap of Jesus and came in for the blessing. The other blessing I have realized in my mourning is the fact that my deep grief is a result from being blessed with a deep love. If I grieve it is only because I have loved!

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.