Grief Digest Articles

Remember them.Say their name out loud.Close your eyes, quiet your mind and breathe. Call them to you.Picture them at their best…Their eyesTheir smileTheir laughTalk to them… tell them how you miss them, love them, wish they were here. Tell them what you need them to know, what is weighing so heavy on your soul. Release your pain. Release your burdens. Tell them. Tell them how you struggle, fear, rage, question, weep, wail. And tell them how you endure, how you carry on through the heaviness of d …

I recently watched the movie “The Bucket List” for the 5th time. Each time I watch the movie, I see another lesson about living life. For those who have not seen the movie, I don’t want to go into detail but it’s about two men who are diagnosed with cancer and became unlikely friends while sharing a hospital room. At one point, they start a “bucket list” of things they want to do when they complete their treatments. The movie’s message is invaluable and I believe we all can learn from the lesson …

When I was born, after penicillin but before the Internet, death and grief were shrouded in euphemism. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross changed that when she published “On Death and Dying” in 1969. She observed her terminal patients go through a five-step process: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. Yet in practice, patients were denied knowledge of their impending death. Heroic doctors doing the utmost bankrupted families and degraded the end-of-life quality for the patient. Kübler-Ross wan …

Little whispers in the night,as I lay beside her bed.I strained so hard to hear the words;what had my Mama said?Were they words reflecting a time long past;with her parents on the farm?Or a time when she had little ones;keeping them from harm?Some of it was gibberish,but within the gentle sound;was comfort knowing she was here –in this moment – Now!I’ve left her room, it’s time to go;now I am homeward bound,So high above the billowing clouds,where glimpses of Heaven are found.Where her soul may …

A child full of wonder sits on my knee.She asks, “Where has he gone? Where can my pap be?”I hug her and smile, knowing just what to say.“It isn’t the same, but he’s not far away.Heaven’s for real, and Pap’s there now you see,and someday we’ll be with him, you and me.”Her eyes become drowsy; a smile on her face.She says, “I bet that Heaven’s a really nice place.”I sit back content and pray God would startplanting seeds of His love right there in her heart.She drifts off to sleep, so precious to m …