hot topic: Robin Williams death

I was really sad to learn about Robin Williams’ death & it’s even more tragic to learn that he committed suicide.  For my generation, he was a very significant person who made many valuable contributions in the entertainment industry and many other areas.  When I learned of his death, I of course thought of all the different roles that he played and only recently learned about his struggle with addiction & depression.

Depression is nasty stuff & we would be wise to be sensitive to people who are struggling in this area.  Cliche’ & quickie one-liners don’t usually help people who are depressed.  The “snap out of” talk, “pick yourself up by your boot straps”, “it’s all in your mind” along with other band-aid phrases can sometimes be nothing more than vaporous cotton candy, frothy & flimsy.  If you know someone who is wrestling with depression, here  are a few helpful tips:

• be gentle & patient
• genuine prayer is always valuable!
• giving them some company can sometimes help

If you’re struggling with depression, here are some things that may help:

• keep some regular routines: prayer, Bible time, church, going to sleep & waking at normal times
• make healthy choices – food, sleep, water, relationships, . . . .
• stay connected – isolation often makes depression worse

Let’s be sure to pray for the family of Robin Williams!

thinking about my dad

When a person whom we love dies, its kind of a surreal journey & that has certainly been true for me with my dad’s death almost 2 months ago.  I’m writing, on occasion, about my thoughts and feelings about his death not to be morbid or to seek for sympathy or attention.  Instead, my intent is to help others who may be going through some grief or loss. With that being said, the first few weeks after my dad died were a bit of a whirlwind – lots of activities, people expressing concern, kindness and an overall sense of busy-ness.  The last month, however, has seemed to settle down in relation to activities related to my dad’s passing.  For me, this has been a more difficult time than when he first died.  I find myself frequently remembering cool things about my dad:

• when I was 5 years old, he would let me ride on his shoulders when we would go to Israel so that I could see and hear what the tour guides were talking about – helping me experience the Bible in a first hand way
• he would make his coffee uber strong & playfully threaten to splatter weak coffee all over the wall – a sentiment with which I find myself in more & more agreement ,)
• stopping for ice cream at Baskin Robbins 31 flavors on the way home from church on Sunday nights & he always ordered (and shared with me) jamocha almond fudge 🙂
• when I was in junior high, he would come to my basketball games, even though he had absolutely no athletic inclination.  Now more than ever, I totally appreciate what this means – watching jr high girls’ basketball can be a genuine labor of love ,)

So if you’re on a journey that includes grief or loss, I pray that you would continue to celebrate the good memories and characteristics of whoever has passed on and I pray that we can both turn to Jesus to carry our griefs and sorrows.  After all that’s said and done, Jesus loves us and is walking along this journey with us.

some advice when someone you love dies:

My dad died over this past weekend and it’s been an interesting journey over the last few days with lots of emotions, kind & gentle people along with some rough spots.  If you’ve lost someone who is close to you, or have a friend in this situation, here are a few things that have been helpful to me so far:

• be gentle with yourself and others:  losing someone who is important in your life is hard so being tender and gentle is a necessary counter-point for this hardness
• grief is illogical & doesn’t need to be justified:  the “why” questions and appropriate answers don’t help, at least not for me up to this point
• time versus busy:  some people need activity and to be occupied with doing things while others need some space, but too much time or activity can lead to some bad results
• presence:  what I’ve found helpful is together-ness, someone being present (but not necessarily chatty – smile)
• encouragement:  let everyone’s encouragement, kind words and supportive efforts come into your heart;
• God:  involve God at all levels;  grief and death are not the times to pull away from God

Are there more things that you’ve found helpful?  I’d be keen for your input

God Helps Us

Today we had the privilege of meeting some really great & totally fun pre-schoolers, as well as some great moms looking after their babies who we are helping. One of the things that I’m wrestling with is the moms that I’m meeting who have lost babies. The majority of the moms whom I’ve met have lost anywhere from 3-10 babies. When I began to discover this, it simply takes my breath away because I can’t imagine how a mom processes such losses. When you meet the majority of these moms, you wouldn’t know that they’ve endured such tragedies. So as we are now taking a bit of a drive, I’m writing this blog & trying to talk w God about this and to let the Trinity help my heart. I will think & pray for a bit now.