The Pain of Loss

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“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”  (Matt. 5:4)

 This brief picture story reveals the depth of the pain of loss and the visible anguish we feel when those we love are seemingly permanently snatched from us.

As I understand it, these pictures along with the following story, was first printed in a French newspaper and has circled the internet for many years.  

A flock of birds had stopped on a highway (somewhere in the Ukraine) perhaps  just taking a rest or maybe they had spotted a bit of food.  A vehicle passed by injuring one of the birds and it is unable to move from the roadway.

Her mate lingers nearby offering solace and eventually he brings food to her.  On one of his return trips he finds his mate dead and seems to try to shake her awake and attends to her with love and compassion.

Aware that she is lost to him he cries out in obvious anguish.  Every time a car passes, the bird flies off for a moment but then returns to mourn, his heart clearly broken.  Shocked at her death, he tries to move her.

Eventually the photographer, concerned for the safety of the living bird, put down his camera, picked up the lifeless bird and removed it from the road.  The grieving bird lingered in a nearby tree, “crying” out loud with adoring love and reluctant to move on. No one knew how long he stood beside her and cried, devastated by the loss. But there he stood beside her lifeless body with sadness and sorrow.

I lost several loved ones in 2010–a Husband; a Brother; and a lifelong Friend;  I also have a special affinity for entertainer Michael Jackson, and was deeply affected by his death because of the common skin disorder (Vitiligo), we shared.

But, they are all gone now, and it is painful to think of the world without them in it.  Nevertheless, I have discovered, the Scriptures offer great comfort for pain we cannot explain and for loss we cannot control.  There is peace in knowing “our times are in God’s good hands.” God loves us and it has always been a part of God’s plan for us to spend eternity with Him whenever our lives on earth are over. God understands our pain and grief, so the death of loved ones is not a sad thing for God–only for us.

And so, I rest in the Lord and the comfort of God’s love.  I allow the power of God’s Word to heal my heart and trust that God sees our tears even before they fall. By faith, I believe as the songwriter has wisely penned, “Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.”