Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
(Psalm 6.2 NRSV)
One study, called "Broken Heart," researched the mortality rate of 4,500 widowers within six months of their wives' deaths. Compared with other men the same age, the widowers had a mortality rate 40 percent higher. What greater storm can we go through than the loss of a loved one?

In Ernest Hemingway's "Islands in the Stream," an anguished father mourns the loss of his oldest son. The boy has been killed in war. The father is grief-stricken. He will not eat or sleep. He walks alone on the beach for hours. A friend tries to persuade him to leave the beach and begin to come out of his depression. The father says to his friend, "I have been out here all day thinking about him and wanting to have him with me always. I know I have got to let him go. I have got to---but I cannot do it today." Some of you can identify with that father's deep hurt. The loss of a loved one is a dreadful storm.

But we need to remember that Jesus is walking with us, and he is ready to carry us if we will let him.

Dear God, may I always remember the new life you have given me in Jesus Christ. He is always ready to heal and strengthen me. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

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