Death of a Loved One

Losing a loved one or one’s life partner is one of the most painful experiences you will ever have to go through.  Death has come up repeatedly over the years as I have provided people solace as a professional counselor now for nearly 30 years. And yet, despite the heartache, it is important to count your blessings and to be thankful to God for the years that you’ve had together with loved ones.

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‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

Death is never easy to face for anyone, especially when it involves the loss of your special lover.  But God always gives you the grace to walk through the valley of the shadow of death as He promises to take you by the hand and walk down that dark road with Him  It is even more encouraging when you know that your loved one was a follower of Christ, just as you are, which means you have the real hope that you will be reunited one day.

With this in mind, I wanted to post this marvelous, timeless poem written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  He touched on what it’s like to have a broken heart when your loved one dies, but he also stressed how important it is to be thankful for the fact that you did experience true love, something that not everyone experiences.

In Memoriam A. H. H. OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII: 27

BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

I envy not in any moods
         The captive void of noble rage,
         The linnet born within the cage,
That never knew the summer woods:
I envy not the beast that takes
         His license in the field of time,
         Unfetter’d by the sense of crime,
To whom a conscience never wakes;
Nor, what may count itself as blest,
         The heart that never plighted troth
         But stagnates in the weeds of sloth;
Nor any want-begotten rest.
I hold it true, whate’er befall;
         I feel it, when I sorrow most;
         ‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.