Sadness. It’s the number one emotion grieving hearts experience.

Sadness is a universal emotion. Everyone experiences it at some time or another – usually in situations where we are enduring a loss.

Sadness is also a sort of umbrella term describing a range of similar emotions: disappointment, discouragement, helplessness, hopelessness, misery, anguish, despair.

No one wants to feel sad, and yet in times of loss sadness is real, natural, common, and healthy. It matches our reality.

Along some stretches of the grief road, sadness can be intense and overwhelming. As one person said, “I never knew sadness could be this strong and deep.”

On top of our own personal sadness and losses, we live in a world of sadness. Loss is everywhere. People are sad and grieving, and many of them don’t know what to do with it.

The sheer weight of all the sadness can be crushing.  As another person put it, “Living under this heavy blanket of sadness is stifling.”

A heavy blanket of sadness.

I can feel it. Can you?

Even as I wrote this, sadness began to surface from somewhere deep inside. I sat with it for a while, just allowing myself to feel sad. Then I began to write.

“I feel sad because…”

One thing led to another. It became quite a list. I had no idea I had that much sadness buried inside me. I had no idea how many things I was feeling sad about.

How about you? Are you feeling sad today?

Perspective is a powerful thing. I try to allow myself to feel sad – because the sadness is there – but I don’t really want to swim in it all day long. I can only handle so much heaviness at a time.

After feeling some of the sadness, I reorient. I ask myself what I know to be true. Several verses from Psalm 42 and 43 come to mind: 

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 42:5; 42:11; 43:5).

The Psalmist repeated this to himself (and to us) several times.

The heaviness of life and grief can temporarily blind me to the bigger picture. When I choose to lift my eyes, my heart typically follows. I have to tell my own heart and soul, “Look up. Put your hope in God.”

This current sadness is for a season. Now is not forever. This too shall pass. God will get me through this. Amid the sadness, I cling to Him.

If you find yourself stifled by a blanket of sadness, be patient with yourself. Feel the sadness. God is with you in the pain. He will lead you through. He can handle this.

Question: Are you feeling sad today? What about? What helps you when you’re sad?