Good Grief...

Yesterday,I went to my first "grief seminar"....begrudgingly.

At first it felt like a Saturday Night Live skit...(which I used to dream of being on, 

but not this skit.) 

Gilda Radner and John Belushi were nowhere to be seen. 

There was not a whole lotta funny in this circle. 

In the circle sat a variety of pain....those that had lost a husband, a son, a dad, a grandmother. A few couldn't even say who they had lost. 

Holidays are supposed to be wonderful...right?

This time of year, everything from commercials, to songs, to conversations, all focus on home and relationships. 

Which is lovely, accept if you are missing home or loved ones....and if you are, 

you are now in the bright spotlight of how much you are missing.

Bottom line, If you ain't sittin' in Norman Rockwell's painting...chances are, you wish you were.

The holidays aren't all they're cracked up to be. 

Ironically, it is the time of year when many of us...crack.

And guess what? 

That. Is. Ok.

This year might not be what you expected....or wished for...

However, don't forget, for one second, 

that Very God Himself, 

is present among us.

In Him all things keep us connected to those we love, both present and past.

It's ok if an empty chair, or the smell of stuffing and chocolate pie gets you choked up...

He gets it.

"Surely He took up our pain and carried our sorrows." ~Isaiah 53:4

Surely that same God will be with us and bear them again this season. 

I for one, am very thankful for that! 

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, 

so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." -2 Corinthians 1:3,4

God, may we shed tears of Thanksgiving for Your presence and the abundance of gifts that flow from it.

In His Dust,

DCC