Mourning a sudden and tragic loss....

On Friday night a young girl in our community passed away due to a tragic car accident. She was only 17.
As I think back over my lifetime I can think of several people in our church and local community who have been robbed of life, who have passed far, far too young.

Its extremely tragic. My experience has been that the community will wrap its arms around this family and they will experience God's love through many people.

What happens though in the months and years after......it's tough, tough going to pick up the pieces. It's lonely, frustrating and painful. There are books on mourning and dealing with loss and there are people to assist, but by and large we all have to journey these things on our own. We are uniquely made and so we experience these things uniquely as well. No one person other than our maker can understand how we experience something such as death.

We trudge on learning as we go.

Still I cant help but think that we could do much better at supporting people through such things as the loss of a loved one. It is final, it is tragic and nothing compares to it. A life is not replaceable. I can't help but think that because life is so special, so cherished that we should mourn a loss accordingly. This is life after all, what do we have without it? Each life is so precious.

So as we all experience people in our lives who have lost someone, what are we doing to show our support and love? How are we bearing each others burdens, not only in the days after, but in the years after? When the most precious thing there is, is taken (life), what is our response? Does life as we know it just go on? Or are people what are most important to us, and as such, do we show compassion accordingly?

Galatians 6:2

New International Version (NIV)

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

 

Below links are to Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapmans recount of how his family dealt with his daughters passing:

 

Steven Curtis Chapman on Larry King

(Part 2) Steven Curtis Chapman on Larry King

(Part 3) Steven Curtis Chapman on Larry King

(Part 4) Steven Curtis Chapman on Larry King

 

Tribute to Maria Chapman