Robert Taylor

After a 30 year marriage, the novelist Julian Barnes found himself alone. His wife Pat died of a brain tumor. It was then that Barnes discovered an even more painful emotion than grief. It was the silence about his loss. His friends never talked of his wife. They steered conversations away from her…and him. A week after his wife’s funeral, one friend cheerfully suggested, “why don’t you take a long vacation?” He coined a term for his reluctant friends called “the Silent Ones.” He recognized in his sorrow that no one could handle his tears. When we lose someone, tears flow. They are a common human element that connects us all, regardless of race, financial status, educational accomplishment, or faith. Tears flow freest at  the crossroad of despair and hope. They stained the eyes of Abraham, David, and even Jesus himself. What do you do with your tears? How do you handle the tears that flow uncontrolled in a  darkened soul in need of comfort? On Sunday night, November 20th, Greg Parks will present a lesson at 5:45 as part of that strategy.  You can help through a grief support group. It is easy to say, “get over it” but you never get over it. You let God and his children become the crutch to help you walk again. Find out how you avoid being a “Silent One.”