Space for Sorrow

“Sorrow is the bridge out of despair.”

Loren Thornburg

We avoid pain at all costs.  Whatever it takes to feel good, unless of course it takes pain.  The problem is that the relief from the pain that we desire requires pain itself.  Sorrow is required.  Time won’t heal it, avoiding won’t heal it, and pretending won’t heal it either.  While these things may distance us from the pain they have no power to heal the pain.  It is the thing we avoid most, sorrow, that leads us out of pain.  Give yourself space for sorrow.  It just might be the bridge to the joy you’ve been longing to find.  

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?…I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

Psalm 13: 1,8 ESV

David is a man of great sorrow.  All throughout the psalms we hear his sorrow and pain.  He doesn’t hide it, or pretend that he is okay, or apologize for feeling mad.  What David does is go to the Lord with his sorrow.  It is in the process of lamenting to the Lord that he finds his way to truth.  David goes from feeling forgotten by the Lord to praising the Lord.  He finds his way back to praise through the space of sorrow.  God invites us to do the same.  Share your sorrow with Him.  He loves to relate with you in your joy and in your pain.  No level of anger, frustration, grieving or sorrow is too great for Him.  Follow David into the pain and back to the truth.