good grief

i'm only 2 days out of winter quarter, and already there is a theology sized vacuum in my life. so here are some musings to hold me over. in studying the prophets this quarter i started to notice something. grief. lament. i also noticed that i don't see these things around me. i think grief is something we don't do very well, both as the Church and as Americans. we are taught to be strong, keep our cool, push forward. but there is a time for grief, and grief is necessary for healing. grief is also more than just mourning the loss of a loved one, or something you have to endure when someone dies. grief is about sadness, feeling the things that come along with major life circumstances. grief is what you experience as a friendship changes, with the loss or change of a job, you even experience grief as you make positive changes like getting married. grief is about change. when things change, we grieve. we grieve what is different, even if what is new is good. and especially if what has changed was good. grief is necessary. it should be understood and experienced. without it, we can't have hope. if we are constantly holding on to something that has changed, we cannot have a true hope for the future. it is grief and hope that we experience in the cross. we grieve the loss of our Savior, and only when we do that can we find hope in His resurrection. grief for loss, hope for resurrection. good grief.