mgpcpastor's blog

I’ve had books in my Amazon queue or sitting around that I haven’t got around to reading.
It’s OK That You’re Not OK is by Megan Devine.
Presently it feels as if, to use a phrase from Devine’s book, that loss is becoming integrated – life is lived with loss alongside, not overcome, not somewhere behind.
Christians can unhelpfully extrapolate God’s sovereignty into an expectation that loss and grief are brief seasons from which the faithful emerge wiser, more empathetic, and above all happy for what we’ve gained.
Turning loss and grief into a season of self-development gets in the way of what’s happening: learning to live with loss.

… grief is not a problem to solved. It isn’t “wrong,” and it can’t be “fixed.” It isn’t an illness to be cured.
We assume that if something is uncomfortable, it means something is wrong. People conclude that grief is “bad” because it hurts. We hear about relieving the pain, getting out of pain, dreaming of a time when there is no pain. We behave as though grief is something to get out of as soon as possible, an aberration that needs healing, rather than a natural response to loss.
Most people approach grief as a problem to be solved.

It’s OK That You’re Not OK, Megan Devine, Sounds True, 2017, pg15.