Standing at the Crossroads of Faith and Grief

Grief doesn't mean faith is lacking...it means love is present. Yesterday I attended a celebration of life. The person whose life was being celebrated had left this world much too soon, and the sorrow among his loved ones was palpable.  Like the many hundreds of other mourners in attendance, I cried...hard.  Later in the day, a curious person found me and expressed their surprise at seeing my level of sorrow."But I thought you believed in the afterlife?" was their puzzled response to my tears.As their question hung in the air between us, I heard (in my head) one of those needle across a record sound effects that indicates a sudden and complete stop.If anyone out there thinks that faith puts an end to grief, please spare yourself that painful illusion. It does not.Faith and grief have nothing to do with one another. Completely. Mutually. Exclusive. Grief is the natural reaction to a loss. Nothing can spare us from grief if love has been present. Nothing.  Even when we know with certainty, that life continues on in another realm, it does not lessen the void of an empty spot in our life that held the physical, emotional, and mental presence of a loved one.Its true- I have spent my whole life near death; sitting with the dying, walking beside the grieving, and even receiving astoundingly  accurate messages from those on  the other side. Even so.... When loss enters-either in my own life, or into the life of someone that I care about...grief cuts right through me like a hot knife through butter. And I would never want it any other way. Every tear cried opens the heart a little bit wider...and it is only with a wide open heart that we are able touch the truth that we all go on...forever.