Mourning
Image via Wikipedia Mourning is one of life’s universal experiences. To mourn means to feel deep grief, sorrow, heartache, anguish, angst, pain, misery, unhappiness, and woe. It is the opposite of joy. Mourning comes from loss that is perceived as irreversible, such as death , terminal illness , and devastating accidents. It is not expressed in the same way in every culture, but no matter where you live, sooner or later you will face “a time to mourn”. In spite of the fact that all human beings mourn, each person’s experience of grief is always unique. The little book of Ruth in the Old Testament tells the story of a Moabite widow who became the great grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus Christ . When Elimelech and his two sons died, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, and she urged her daughters-in-law to remain in Moab . Ruth replied to Naomi with empathy : “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For…your people shall be my people, and y