Blessed Are Those Who Mourn. . .

For They Shall be Comforted

Mourning--a natural response to loss--comes to all God’s people. Volumes have been written about this subject. Granger Westberg, in his book Good Grief, points out that we experience grief in ways we don’t recognize. We mourn the loss of a favorite piece of jewelry, of prized possessions, of tools we use in our calling or our work. We mourn the end of a friendship.

Experts in the field of counseling tell us we mourn in direct proportion to how much we love. Jesus says the mourners will be comforted. One of God’s special qualities is his compassion. He understands our suffering. Because He does, He comforts those who have suffered loss.

Jesus tells us to mourn differently than the ones who have no hope. We aren’t to mourn for our fellow believers. We are to rejoice they have arrived at their Heavenly home. We are to be momentarily sad because we will miss them, for a while. But with God’s comfort we proceed through our days.