Tuesday's Trust - Living in a "House of Mourning" ~Tommy and Angie Prince

Tuesday's Trust

Living in a "House of Mourning"

~Tommy and Angie Prince

Everything the world is about is the push to "recover," hurry up and "get through" the grief and trauma of your loss. The world looks at the "good life" as

• being prosperous,
• having an abundance of possessions,
• seeking pleasure,
• pursuing happiness, and
• seeking self-sufficiency...

Then, you read along in Ecclesiastes, and God turns everything upside down.

"Let Me Grieve!" was my poem in last week's Friday's Faith. When I read scripture, God says this mourning is beneficial, not detrimental as many would have me think. So, for those of us in grief, if you are looking for meaning in your time of grief, read Ecclesiastes 7:1-4.

It's not that we want to be in the "house of mourning"; we didn't want to be in the "house of mourning." We didn't ask to be in the "house of mourning," but we were visited by a horrendous loss~the loss of our 19-year-old daughter in a car crash, and NOW -- now, we are residents in a "house of mourning."

And the strange thing is, Ecclesiastes says being in this "house of mourning" is a good thing, and that "sorrow" is better than "laughter"! So should we hurry up and get over this good thing? We don't know. We are just grieving our loss, attempting to manage our trauma, and learning to trust our God at a much deeper level... And somehow He comes alongside, ministers to us, and reminds us of what is most important about life. For that, we do count ourselves blessed.

A good name is better than fine perfume,

and the day of death better than the day of birth.

It is better to go to a house of mourning

than to go to a house of feasting.

Sorrow is better than laughter,

because a sad face is good for the heart.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

~Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

Pictures thanks to Fotosearch.com