Constructive Grieving?

Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.
John 21:3

Jesus had been killed and buried.  The Disciples were heartbroken and grieving.  The person they had pinned their hopes on was gone.  They felt lost, depressed and despondent, so they began going through the motions of living.  They went back to fishing, which they could do without having to think about it, because it had been their profession for their entire lives.

I have come in contact with many people who seem to be stuck in the grieving process where they merely go through the motions of living where they don't have to think.  They simply wander through their days with little or no joy, little or no energy, little or not desire to live.  

Please don't get me wrong, grieving is as much a part of life as breathing.  Ecclesiastes 3:4 reminds us that while there is a time to grieve, life doesn't end because there is also a time to laugh. Our lives do NOT end when God calls home one of our loved ones.  Our lives do NOT end because we don't know why.  Our lives do not end, but too many times the living part of our lives ends.  We choose to focus on our grief to the neglect of everyone and everything else.  But God gives us HOPE if we pay attention!  In John 14:3, Jesus tells us, "I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am."

When Jesus says He will come get us, He isn't lying. And when He comes to get us, we will be rejoined with all of those we love!  That is the hope for the future!  So, let's not give up living in the present!