Grieving the Season

Average reading length: 4-5 minutes     
NOTE: This is part 1 of a three-part post. Click for part 2



What a time to be alive. The last month has been interesting, to say the least.


And if you’re like me, you’ve had a wave of emotions and reactions as each time you start to settle into your new normal, something happens to flip that upside down, and honestly, send you a little deeper into despair.



As I’ve been trying to make sense of all the things, trying to remain hopeful and NOT stay stuck in stagnation, it seems like everything has been pointing to this message:


Surrender to the season.




This is not an attempt to dismiss the reality of sorrow and crisis that is plaguing this season, as much as, this is me sharing what I believe God is having to push me to do. Ashamedly, I can admit, I live life on two extremes: 0 or 100. Slothful narcotization or action-oriented achieving. There really is no in between for me.


So since the start of this global shutdown, I have found myself comfortably clinging to living at 0. Not just resting, as I know I need to, but resting HEAVILY, to the point of creating dents in my couch because I plop myself here at 8:00am and don’t get up until bedtime. It looks like hyperconsumption of news and social media… visiting my kitchen every 5 minutes to the point that my pants no longer fit... and a little bit of self-neglect. Guys, it’s only APRIL 7th. For me, this is dangerous.


You know Pink’s old song, Don’t Let Me Get Me? That’s me.  




Virginia has a stay at home order until June 10th AT THE LEAST. I need an intervention, and so, for me, I know that intervention has come from the Holy Spirit beckoning me to surrender my fear of the unknown of this season that is manifesting through my feelings of hopelessness and numbing out through overindulgence.


Here’s what I’m saying to myself.

Grieve. 



Grieve what was that will not be. 



Grieve the stability of the present that is somewhat dissipating.  



Grieve what you thought would be that may or may not come to fruition. 



Grieve your comfort in the somewhat predictability of tomorrow that is no longer guaranteed.


Grieve it all. 





Then commit to grieve again and again as this continues.



Grief is multi-faceted. It’s not purely emotional. Oftentimes grief comes through physical, mental, social, or spiritual manifestations. It can be cyclical and not linear. Grieve how you need to grieve, and grieve what you need to grieve.




Grieving is an action-oriented process. When we have yet to go through the process of grieving, the grief occupies a space that makes it harder to receive something else- something anew. That enables…

Surrender.









Part 2 will release tomorrow.

PS here’s what I’m NOT saying: 

  • Rush yourself and your process.
  • If you’re bingeing or sitting on the couch, you need to get up. 
  • Grieving is easy.
  • Surrender so you can be productive and achieve #allthethings.
  • Grief and surrender are mutually exclusive.
  • Surrendering means you come out on the other side without having endured darkness.

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