While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:4-5)
In my almost-finished novel Denial of the Enemy, Posey Perdue suffers from depression and unknowingly considers herself a victim of her mother’s death. Dependence on her father, who is also grieving, results in disaster. She becomes a victim of bullies and the world.
Victims depend on others, most often their adversaries, for happiness. They won’t be happy until everyone in a certain racial group treats them fairly or until the person who wrongs them treats them fairly. Victims of disease or circumstances are unhappy. There’s a lot of sad and angry people in the world. Add bullies and criminals and realize there’s a lot of people who aren’t going to treat us like they should. If we depend upon those who treat us unfairly for happiness, we’ll never be happy.
The question: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” is one we all need to ask ourselves from time to time when we look into empty tombs for happiness. To find happiness, we need to seek Jesus, our savior. He is a deity, yet fully human. He understands our pain and was present when God decided to create you as His child and give you gifts to help others. Jesus knows your heart, even if you don’t. Trust him. When you seek Him, don’t look for him in empty tombs of depression, anger, hatred, unrest, stress, malice, distrust, or chaos. Leave those tombs and seek love. All you have to do is pray to find Him. He is life.
Jesus, I need love. You understand my pain. I need You to save me from it. You know my heart, so help me seek and find happiness among the living and the blessings you’ve placed in my life. Show me other’s needs so I can help them because helping others will make me happy. Send angels to me as you did the other women in the empty tomb. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
When someone you love dies there is a period of mourning. That period of time is different for everyone. I had a grief counselor tell me, “There is no time limit on mourning.” Time is the great healer. If you are a victim there is also a period of time that you are healing. At some point a victim needs to become victorious. I don’t believe you can truly be happy if you remain a victim.
You can’t ever be happy if you consider yourself a victim. Yes, we all grieve with any loss but along with the grieving we must consider our blessings: our friends that call us and send us cards, people who bring us food, the memories of our loved ones. It is all so important. Sometimes people who consider themselves victims have no purpose in life other than revenge for the person or people who caused their loss or pain. We can mourn without being a victim.
Yes, we can mourn without being a victim. I wasn’t trying to say that they are the same. I was just comparing mourning and being a victim because there is a period of time, for both, that you are working through a process to get to a better place. Mourning a loved one takes time and there is a period of time when you are a victim to heal and forgive.
Thanks for making that clearer to me. I definitely agree.