Bill Hybels continues Chapter 9 of Simplify with a discussion of some of the seasons Solomon mentions in Ecclesiastes 3. Today he covers mourning and dancing.
1. Mourn or dance. Pastor Hybels writes that any kind of loss begets a need for grief:
“If you have recently experienced the loss of a job, marriage, or home , or other significant disappointment- and if you are honest about it’s impact- you will give yourself permission to enter an appropriate season of mourning.”
Bill goes on to list three factors that determine the length and characteristics of mourning:
a. the depth of loss
b. our own natural wiring for handling loss
c. the intensity and pace with which a person chooses to grieve
Pastor Hybels encourages us to be intentional in allowing ourselves to feel loss. Non-grieving is not a style and leaves us stuck. Furthermore, isolation only exacerbates our feeling of loss. We need to put ourselves in places where people can walk alongside us in our grief.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Scripture is filled with descriptions of seasons of dancing. Specifically, the Old Testament contains detailed instructions for festivals and celebrations God not only permitted, but also mandated. We need to mark our seasons of dancing, not let them slip by unnoticed. The author concludes:
“Above all else, give words of gratitude to God, whose fundamental demeanor toward you is goodness. From Him come all seasons of dancing.”
Today’s question: How would you describe your characteristics of mourning? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Be silent or speak”
