Grief

Recently a friend's father went to be with Jesus. It was not long after that someone we knew told my friend that the appropriate time for grieving was over. That my friend needed to put a period on the grief and move on. That got me to thinking. This person had no right to say what they did. My friend was just beginning her grief journey.

For everyone the grief journey is different. We all go through the steps of grief different. The amount of time that it takes for someone to grieve a loss depends on the person. It has been almost 6 years since my Grandpa passed and I still grieve him quite often.

Since my Mom went to be with Jesus in July one of the things that I have noticed is that sometimes I can be doing something or remembering something and just start crying. I know that it is good to cry. It is part of the healing. We all need a good cry now and then.

It is also good to talk to someone who has recently been through the grief journey. They can relate to how you are feeling. Talking about how you are feeling is a great thing to do as part of the healing process. I have friends and family that I talk to often about how I am feeling. They are supportive and understand.

Another good thing to do is pray. I do that often when I am sad. My Mom was a huge believer in the power of prayer. Prayer can heal. God know what you are going through and he will help you through it.

So if you are ever faced with someone telling you that your grief journey is over. Just smile and know that it is over when you feel ready to put a period on it. Don't let anyone ever tell you how to grieve. It is up to you. Take all the time that you need. God will be with you every step of the way.

Snow

I am not one to like snow at all. That is a fact. I hate to drive in it and I hate that it has to happen. Snow is depressing. You are stuck in your house with no place to go. Then there is the thought of the ice that comes with or after it. Also not to mention that there may be power outages due to the snow. All of this is something that I don't want to think about.

My friend Carol made an observation recently. She observed that I have made a change in my thought about Snow. I have mellowed a little. Fact is that I have come to the conclusion that snow is going to happen no matter what. That is a fact of life. I just need to get over it. I need to just deal with the fact that snow happens and puts a damper on my life.

I look back on my hate of snow and attribute it to my Grandma Rittenour. She hated snow. So much so that when the first flake of snow fell she stopped driving. She made Grandpa due all the driving. If she had her way she would not have even gone out of the house in Winter. It was that bad. I think all of this rubbed off on me.

In the past year or so I have had to do some growing up of sorts. When Mom retired I had to do more of the driving in winter than I had before. I am not the best driver by any means and to put me on the road with snow is not a good thing. I panic and get nervous. Once I drove home from work in a snow storm and kept talking out loud the whole way home to keep it together.

I think last Winter is what sent me over the edge about snow. We had too many snow storms close together for my liking. I think when we have little storms spread out I do better. This Winter has been better for me as far as snow goes.

So as far as snow goes I am getting over my dislike of it. I am moving on. I know that one day I am not going to have people to drive me in the snow and I am going to have to take myself places. So I need to get use to snow and driving in it before then.

As my sister says I need to have more confidence in myself than I do. I can do it if I set my mind to. I am going to get over this snow thing I have going on. It will take time, but it will happen.

How to make a Church survive

Recently I had been thinking about my church and how we are lacking adults in the 20-40 year range. We have more people in our church in 60+ range than anything else. My thought was how to get more young adults in the church. Then it hit me. My church has issues.

First is that we can't get along. We have some in the church that want to run things and don't think of others feelings. Then there are some are what I call disconnect Christians who only come to church when they feel like it. They simply don't care.

All this is why we can't get people into our church. People come to church and they see that we are having issues and don't want to have any parts of us. Then what happens is that in the end I get blamed for all the problems. That also drives people away.

So how are we going to survive with me at 36 and the next oldest person at 50? The thing that we have to work on is getting everyone to get along first. Then we need on getting people connected to church. See what would get them to come to Sunday School and Worship every Sunday. Then when people see that we are a unit then our church will grow.

You can't work for the Lord when you are not united. Another thing is that when one or more people feel that they have to be in charge then people begin to resent them. They begin to feel that unless they give in to this person or persons that they are not a part of the church. One person taking over the church is taking the focus off what is important.

Also the Pastor may be the problem. When the Pastor of the church is not doing his or her job then people feel that church is not important. You have to support your Pastor to get them to feel equipped to do their job. A Pastor is a key part of the church and people look up to them for spiritual guidance. When they are not living up to their job then the church falls apart.

Unity is what it is all about. Putting the pieces together to make sure that everyone is working together for a common purpose. If your church can't be unified then there is no hope of growing and moving forward.

Unify you church.