“There is a difference between moving on and moving forward. You may never forget about your loss. As you befriend your sadness, though, you can move forward on your journey to abundant life.”- Alison Cook and Kimberly Miller
“A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.”- Ecclesiastes 3:3
As Alison Cook and Kimberly Miller continue Chapter 11 of Boundaries for Your Soul, they discuss three categories of sadness: sorrow in response to the loss of something good, the loss of something bad, and the loss of what might have been, The authors discuss the first two sorrows today.
1. Sorrow in response to losing what was good. As Alison and Kim note, loss pervades human life. Hence, to experience loss, you must know love. However, you need not be ambushed by a broken heart. Instead, listen to your sadness. Lead it with compassion. As a result, the authors state, focusing on and befriending your sadness:
- brings back to life frozen parts of your soul
- moves you forward into new hope
- helps you recognize, and stay connected to, what matters most
Furthermore, as wise King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, your soul holds both joy and sadness. Also, both joy and sadness desire to serve the good of the whole. As Alison and Kim encourage, “How wonderful that, by God’s divine design, you can be truly joyful on the one hand and be present to your sadness on the other.”
2. Sorrow in response to losing what was bad. It’s often difficult to let go of people or patterns to which you’ve grown accustomed. In fact, the authors astutely observe, sometimes it hurts more to leave behind something that’s broken in your life than to leave behind something good. Because you choose the pain you know over the pain you don’t know – what’ll happen when you let go.
Today’s question: As of this moment, do you believe you’re moving on or moving forward? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Inner anguish – when your heart is aching”
