Greiving

Dear God,

Yesterday my parents made the trip home to Fayetteville, NC from Chattanooga, TN.  My Grandfather walked them to the door, watched them climb into their car and drive away.  Since my Grandmother passed away last Wednesday, my Grandfather hasn’t been alone at the house.  What was he feeling as he walked back inside?

Did he close the door a little more slowly than usual?  Did his eyes well up with tears as he turned around to lock the door?  Was he overcome with sadness seeing her motorized wheel-chair in the corner?  Did he recognize for the first time that it was real, that he couldn’t go to the nursing home to visit his wife of 54 years?

Did he get her belongings from the funeral home and wash her clothes one last time?  Folding them neatly as he has always done and placing them carefully in the drawer?  How did he feel as he looked at her half empty bottles of pills?  Did he throw them away yet, or will he hang on to them for a while?

Is he already lonely?  Does he feel isolated or afraid?  Does he think that there is no one that can understand the depth of his pain?  Has he even admitted to himself that he is hurting?  Did he sit in his favorite chair and watch TV to numb the pain?

When he went to bed last night did was he restless?  Did he toss and turn all night?  When he woke up this morning was he more sad than the day before?  Did he go through the motions of getting dressed while wondering what the point is?

Help me know how to minister to him.  Give him peace and the knowledge that we all love him and are with him in his grief.

Forever Yours,

Austin