Bereavement

Bereavement

“Support groups are proven ways to bring comfort and healing.  

This is a support group for all who are hurting from losing a loved one or for those who are trying to comfort and understand the grief of a family member or friend.  A short program pertaining to handling grief is held at each meeting.  The meetings are held the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the Mercy Room with some exceptions.  Check the bulletin.  If you have questions or just hurting and need to talk to someone, please call Nancy McGhee at 601-942-2078 or email ncmcghee@bellsouth.net or Suzie Cranston 601.982.5464.  Please check the website calendar for the guest speaker each month.

I NEVER BELIEVED

I never believed I would see another season change with gladness.
I never believed I would see the world again without the haze of tears.
I never expected to actually laugh again.
I never felt my smile would return and feel natural on my face.
I never hoped for another day when I would not want to die.
I never envisioned a world that could again be bright and full of promise.
I believed that all that had passed from me the day he died and went away, never to return.
But I was wrong, and I know that in the fullness of your grieving,
you too will come to understand that life goes on…
that it can still have meaning…
that even joy can touch your life once more.              -The Compassionate Friends
 

Thoughts to reflect on:

  • Bereavement changes us… Once we lose someone we love, we are never quite the same. After the death of her father, Anne Lamott, in her book Operating Instructions, writes this: “I don’t think you really ever get over the death of the few people who matter most to you.  It’s too big.  Oh, you do, the badly broken leg does heal, and you do walk again, but always with limp.”
  •  How is bereavement a gift of the Spirit? Because it is the underside of love, goodness, and meaning.  We grieve because we have loved and have been loved. It is as simple as that.  Perhaps there is no clearer proof of love’s greatness than the pain we feel when the object of our love is taken from us.  Grief also underscores the essential goodness and meaningfulness of life.  If people were not good and things did not matter, we would never grieve.
  • Terrible things are not God’s will, but God can enter them with redemptive love.  That is the promise of the Incarnation. Madeleine L’Engle
  •  What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly. Lao-tzu
  •  Those who live in the Lord never see each other for the last time. German proverb