Grief Deserves Grace

By Kerri Hays of @thesacreddeathproject

It’s the shared underground current

To the pulsing heartbeat of all humankind

The common thread of finely woven sacred string

That serves a season of all lives

It’s birth. It’s death. It’s grief

And this grief deserves grace.

Why do we deny this universal emotion

That could empathize with the world

We ALL carry it

But not well

Our society teaches us to slap it away

Like an annoying gnat that smells fresh sweat

We hide it. We push it. We mask it

But it is grief

And it deserves grace.

Yours will be yours

And mine will be mine

No timeline

No map

No right or wrong.

Like a hot ball of lava

It can boil inside of you with rage

It can bring you to your knees

And beg for tenderness like the kind you would give

To an innocent cherub child

It can make you jealous

And brittle down to your bones

And if you don’t give it the space it demands

It will haunt you until quiet has found you

And explode like flame

That has been fueled with gas and breath.

Like a high wind storm

It will catch you off guard and never with warning

In constant motion like the swelling waves of an ocean

Grief is potent yet fragile

And it deserves grace.

So invite it in 

As if sharing a warm cup of tea

With a friend that has showed up at your door

Offer it the coziest blanket you have

Hand it tissues and allow it to speak

Without interruption

Set with it

Be with it

Let it move through you 

While you scream and dance and laugh and cry.

You will break and then you will mend

And it will repeat

Forever.

This is grief. And it deserves grace.