Grief and Loss During the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought our world a series of unexpected challenges. For those who have lost loved ones during this time, the grieving process has been complicated by the inability to say goodbye in the usual way. No funeral. No gathering of family and friends to share memories. For families of veterans, no military honors. This can all make the loss that much harder to bear.
Focus on the Family put together a fabulous article titled, “Grief During COVID-19: We’re Isolated But Not Abandoned.” It address the challenges people feel when they are “sorrowing in isolation.” This article provides four ways to help us deal with our grief during this time:
- Voice our grief publicly (don’t keep it inside)
- Purposefully interrupt ourselves to make grief a priority (take the time off you need)
- Be gentle with ourselves (pay attention to anger and depression and seek help when needed)
- Remember your loved one
In the weeks since we lost my father-in-law to COVID-19, this advice has proved helpful. Yes, we are grieving the loss of our loved one differently, but we can take time for self-care, we can share our memories–even if it is via video chat, and we can still let people know what we are dealing with.
Taking time to journal and spend time in the garden have been helpful, as is spending time in the Word. Nothing is as inspiring–at least to me–as reading a verse that reminds me of God’s love for us.
On this Memorial Day, I ask you to take a moment to reflect on the lives of our brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom here and abroad. Please join me to pause for a National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. local time. God bless you and God bless America.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ~ John 15:13