Lent Guide 2023Sample

Tuesday - Denial

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Matt 5:4

The path of sadness is an emotion I can’t control. It’s a feeling that comes over me and I can try to regulate it up to a point, but it often catches me off guard. That’s when I’m faced with the choice – am I going to allow it by thinking about it and feeling it; or am I going to cut myself off? Am I going to resist it? It’s an incredibly important moment.

My culture – and often, my theology – tells me that I have to resist it in that moment and let it go. I grew up with the idea, ”Always rejoice in the Lord.” And when I encounter something like that, I have to resist it. Be positive. Read encouraging scriptures.

I remember the first funeral I ever attended as a child. A family member had died. I remember how I experienced the sadness of those around me, and then started crying myself. Looking back, I don’t know if I cried about the family member, or if I cried because everyone else was crying. Maybe a mixture of both.

Immediately, I cut myself off from it, and I heard a lady behind me whisper: “There now, it will all be better. Everything is going to be okay.”

There’s a saying in therapeutic circles: “Everything that you resist, will persist.”

When I hide the sadness – when I don’t work with it – it builds up and consumes me.

What do you do with sadness in your life? What prevents you from embracing it and feeling it?

Grace:

Lord, I ask for the grace of tears, to mourn my losses.