Grief is done differently by every person. It is personal. My brother had been suffering for many years with cancers. Ignoring grief leads to numbers of coping problems. Grief comes because we love. We are not released from grief. Being rich or poor makes no difference. Being gifted and successful in life does not matter. All the 7.5 billion people living on earth today will know grief.

David’s death and all my losses in life have been tender times. No other human can understand. Our brothers or sisters each grieve differently. Spouses grieve in differing ways throughout the world upon the death of their partner.

Because each loss is unique, we need to seek the help of a friend with gifts in grief counseling. When I went through my times of grieving, I sought someone who had had similar losses to help me through this dark journey. I could not handle recently losing my parents, losing my brother David, and losing feelings of worth, being insignificant, unloved, and unwanted by those with whom I wanted to continue sharing the joy of the Lord. One of the gifts David left was a thick book on the history of the McReynolds family. We are a part of everyone who lived with or without our genes. We will understand this in the Next Place.

James E. McReynolds is a preacher, teacher, author, coach, and retreat leader who shares the joy of the Lord. He is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He lives in Elmwood, Nebraska.