How to Live With the Death of Someone You Love

This week was another bad week in Western Kentucky.  Most of you know Marshall County High School had a school shooting, 20 years after the Heath High School shooting.  I live midway between the two schools and attended Heath High School and two Marshall County elementary schools.  

Sunday our church had a “lament” service, where we grieve together, singing songs and Psalms of lament, and sharing experiences.  Romans 12:15 tells us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”  Other translations say “weep with those who weep.”  That’s talking personally to us, to share in the joys and griefs of our friends.  But it’s also talking corporately to us.  We as the church weep with those who weep.  I didn’t know the kids killed or injured, but I still wept for what this community will bear.  

Several years ago I saved this article on grief from Reddit.  What this person says is so true and so important.  (Read it.)  He’s older and has seen a lot of death and he says, rightly, that you don’t want to just get over it.  The death creates scars and “if the scar is deep, so was the love.”  But you can get to where you can live with it.  As my favorite Psalm says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” 126:5.  Then you can come full circle and “Rejoice with those who rejoice.”