Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 2

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

                                    Matthew 5:4 (NRSVue)

One of the things that is a constant for people is that things continue to change.  This might be why we look back on earlier periods of our life with nostalgia.  Compared to what we are dealing with today, we imagine that we had a better handle on who we were then - or at least what we had to face.

All change results in grief and loss - and of course, some changes are more significant than others.

As people get older, another constant is that we begin to outlive our relatives.  The older generations pass away and we attend their funerals and mourn their passing.  Younger generations may begin to look at us as if we're next!  

We're not sure what happened to Jesus' earthly father, Joseph.  It is likely that he died.  How would this have effected Jesus?  I'm sure that he was grateful to have him in his life for the time he did. 

Within my lifetime, I have lost my four grandparents and both of my parents.  I was only nine years old when my Grandpa Powers passed away.  He loved to fish and I can remember him scaling the fish out in the yard.  The neighbor's cat would hang around when he did this!  He had a good sense of humor and liked to find the joy in life.  

I mourned his passing but not like my father did.  It was a more significant loss for him and difficult to comprehend until he too died and I realized what it was to lose a dad.

I haven't felt very blessed when I've been struck with grief in my life.  But I have felt blessed to have loved the people in my life who have touched me significantly.  I think most people understand that the deeper the love for someone, the harder the grief hits us.  

But as we recognize our deep grief, maybe we can also recognize that the larger relationship was a blessing to us.  This can be a comfort and a peace.  And we realize that when we mourn, we have been blessed.

Maybe we should seek to recognize this in our relationships while the people are still living!

Prayer for the day: God, help us in our times of grief and mourning.  Comfort us with your peace and let it pass our understanding.  Guide us to celebrate this life with those we love and help us to love more widely even knowing that mourning may eventually result.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus who understands our loss.  Amen.

Photo by Jens Grabenstein via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.