In May, there was a news story about a grieving chimpanzee who carried her dead baby around for months at a zoo in Spain. This is not uncommon with chimpanzees. Some mothers have been known to continue to carry and even groom their deceased children for as much as 3 months. I decided to not post a picture of what that looks like, because I did not want to trigger any negative emotions. You can look it up for yourself, though. Chimpanzees are believed to share 98% of their genes with humans and experience emotions like grief.
I am in the process of writing an eBook and course, and so I have been reliving many of the emotions that I have dealt with over the years. Nothing affected me more negatively than grief. I still have moments that overwhelm me. I was listening to a song my only first cousin (who also lost a child a few months after I did) posted this morning, and I was shocked by how overwhelmed I got with the pain of his loss and mine. It hit me so aggressively that I had to abandon the song and start listening to something else. That pain still comes in crashing waves, albeit much less frequently than two years ago.
I haven't really said anything about it, but my teenage son and his girlfriend are having a baby this summer. He was my firstborn son and is still very special to my heart. Honestly, I wish they hadn't gotten pregnant at their age (17). I tried as hard as I could to prevent it, but...you know. Ha! I am so excited to be a granddad for the first time. However, I now realize that I am actually grieving the end of my baby boy's very difficult childhood. Sound weird? It's amazing what and how we grieve.
The Lord has shown me that many of you are actually grieving, too. Maybe it's a lost loved one, marriage, career, dream, or some other loss. Grief is real. Grief is awful. I am so sorry that you have been affected by it. Jesus was affected by it, too. In fact, scripture tells us that He actually bore your grief. He loves you so much. You are not alone.
Please consider joining my free Facebook Group: "Light In The Darkness", and let's walk the healing road together!
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