Gravedressing

Training for Today: Cross-train for 30 minutes

Devotion: Gravedressing

Ugh. A rather heavy title today, eh? Allow me to explain. Grave-dressing is actually a communication term (yep, I’m bringing you to my college classroom today)! It’s used to describe the introspective, reflective process that a person goes through as they try to get over a breakup. Specifically, grave-dressing is creating a 3-4 sentence summary of “what happened” to end the relationship. It allows the person to handle the awkwardness of having to explain the breakup with a comfortable, near-rehearsed, dignified response.


I think the concept of grave-dressing can be applied to child loss as well. In terms of child loss, grave-dressing means developing a brief account of what happened in a way that offers you as much comfort as possible while still satisfying the inevitable questions of those around you. Have you gone through the grave-dressing phase?

What’s awesome for us as Christians is that our view doesn’t end at the grave! Your grave-dressing conversations will be short-lived! Take a look at the evidence: “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’” (1 Corinthians 15:54).

How’s this for a grave-dressing account: death has been swallowed up in victory! The victory is mine. The victory is yours! The victory belongs to our children!

Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your Son. Through Him, the account of our losses no longer needs to revolve around the grave! Thank you for declaring victory over death and the grave! Amen.