A TIME TO MOURN

I have written previously about how the Jewish people mourn for three weeks during the summer. 

The time starts with a fast and ends with a fast. 

There are days in between when they do not eat meat or play music or have weddings or joyful celebrations. 

They are remembering the destruction of the walls and gates of Jerusalem and finally the destruction of The Temple.  Those days in 2022 start today.

THE THREE WEEKS

It was a tragic time for the ancient people and the grief and mourning has carried through out the generations and reflects all of the other tragedies that have come upon the Jewish people because of anti-Semitism and hatred throughout all the days of time.

I’m sure as some reflect, pray, fast and mourn, there is a double exercise going on inside of their souls. These devout people are also using this time to mourn and grieve all that the year has brought upon them that they could not control; death, hate, tragic and unexpected circumstances that can not be erased easily from memory.

They are taking time to mourn the tragedies of life; because tragedy IS part of living.

My own soul can surely identify with this process. Many of us have forgotten how important is can be to mourn.

Here is just one such story, that is beautifully told by one such soul named Raechel Myers; it will give you an idea of how this mourning process about our own lives can work out.

She is going through a time of grief and I have no idea if she is Jewish or not, but she definitely gets the idea of why a person would mourn: https://shereadstruth.com/a-time-to-mourn-and-a-time-to-dance/.

FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

As I pondered the three weeks and how it ties in with a Christian perspective of life today, I quickly realize what they have not seen yet; that Jesus has come as Messiah. Also I know that WE (His people) are the walking and talking new temples that make up the living, breathing Body of Christ. 

We will celebrate this this fact with great joy in the fall as we “tabernacle” together.

But right now, something completely different is happening. I can sympathize with how a people who have not yet found Messiah, and a people who have been trampled and persecuted for generations because of their belief in God, could be sad and experience spiritual release from a national time of grief.

I also have a very strong sense that they are not alone; or the only ones who would benefit from a time of mourning.

FOR ALL THINGS THERE IS A SEASON

The scriptures say; “for all things there is a season, a time to mourn…”  and they are inside a time of mourning that grabs my attention because of what it does to the soul of a human being to go through such a spiritual, yet physical remembrance.

I can clearly see that the scriptures are so wise in suggesting that we all take the time to mourn when the season is ripe for it.

CHANIE’S BOX OF GRIEF

One article written by a Jewish woman named Chanie Stavsky especially caught my attention.  I will link her words here for you:  https://www.aish.com/h/9av/ht/Taking-Out-My-Box-of-Grief.html. Are these not the most beautifully compelling words regarding grief and sorrow?

Mrs. Stavsky had stayed strong for her family and her friends all during the peaks and valleys of the pandemic which all the world just experienced. 

She felt called to hold her own grief inside and not to be overcome by those who were forecasting doom.  I applaud her for that and I love the way she processed through the whole situation. 

She made a “grief box” and put notes inside every time they hit a place in their time of overwhelming sorrow.  She wrote down the thing that had happened, put it inside her “grief box” and kept trudging on through the day-to-day necessary things that every one needed and depended upon. The necessary things got accomplished; but she knew there would be a day to stop and mourn those things in the future.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

She mentions that in the past she had often found the time of The Three Weeks to be a type of unnecessary bother that came along right in the middle of her happy summertime activities. 

(Her words express this so much better) but this year; she was looking forward to the time of observing The Three Weeks because she would stop and mourn the year gone by and the tragic things that could not be adequately addressed as they were so quickly occurring in her daily life. 

Now; she would stop and take the time to ponder those things. She will remember all those moments that were so hard to face at the time. Then, she will try to learn the meaning of each and everything that happened by looking back again. She will offer those things up in prayers to God, and spend time fasting and listening to God as he speaks to her heart. Hopefully, afterward God will offer the peace and comfort that only God can offer to His people.

WE ALL NEED TIME TO MOURN AND GRIEVE

My love for my Jewish sisters grows as I reflect on this.  Such good mothers, such good leaders, such dedication to their homes, their husbands and their careers; yet so in tuned to God’s unchanging, ever faithful ways of life. I find them so inspiring when it comes down to ways to get through the toughest, hardest times we have ever been through. 

They have heard it all from their grandmothers, and those grandmothers heard it from their grandmothers. 

These Jewish women know something that Mary and the New Testament Christians learned by living; how to suffer with grace and dignity, and how to pick up the pieces in order to go on moving forward in order to make all things new again.

First they stop to mourn and grieve; then they become able to move on with healing and open hearts.

THE TIME HAS COME

If you have not taken the time to mourn all the things that have happened to America, to her people, and to the nation as a whole, (actually the whole earth as a whole;) now would be a good time to take all of that sorrow out of the box and offer it up in prayer and fasting. 

This is a period inside of time that many prophets believe God gives to His people to mourn and grieve so that they may eventually refresh and renew the tender places where life has left its scars and bruises.

If you are a Christian; you have come to know that Jesus sent us a Comforter for helping with all of this healing.  It is time to call on God and ask for a fresh refilling of that comfort and a new sense of the peace that a relationship with Christ brings to each of us. 

This is the time to put our hope into worshipping God and following His ways instead of looking to our government for healing. 

It isn’t a time for making new laws; it is a time for making new hearts.

The government officials are ALL only flawed human people who are out there making mistake after mistake. Only God can heal the wounds that have been inflicted upon us now. We must call upon Him with remembrance of all the things that He has led his people through over the periods of history that have been left behind us.

OPEN YOUR BOX OF GRIEF AND LET IT OUT

Go ahead; open that box of grief and sorrow. 

Spread out all of the notes and hand each one of them over to God. 

Pray for comfort and peace to all of those who are left behind and ask for strength for God to lead us into a new day.

For every season; there is a time.

Now is the time to mourn.

LET GO OF THE GRIEF AND HEAL

Take the time to mourn the past; for until it is healed; there will be no future.

Once you go through the process hope will again begin to spring up.

A better and new time will arise; a time to bring back the seasons of celebration.

Go through the three weeks and then turn your hearts toward the season of joy.

Joy comes in the mourning.