The loss of loved ones is inevitable. The tragedy is not so much for the one who has passed as it is for those who remain and suffer guilt, regrets and loneliness.

There is no adequate way to prepare for and no way to escape tragedy other than to die before anyone close to you does or be a recluse and not permit close relationships. However, close, loving relationships are a wonderful part of life. Perhaps the pain we feel from the loss of a loved one is to teach us the very meaning of life, love, and to treat it well when we have it.

Love and life are funny things that often bewilder us, creating feelings within our body that are not really caused by any physical injury. Take heartbreak for example. Heartbreak is not a pain caused by a physical injury to the heart. The pain we feel is an emotionally generated pain, triggered in part by our mind based upon an experience. And what about that chemistry that jazzed the both of you when you met? Then wonder, “what more?”

"What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand" (John 13:7).

At the time Peter could not comprehend why Jesus wanted to wash his feet. Later, when he heard the rooster crow, perhaps then Peter understood the servile act his Lord bestowed upon all the apostles, including the one who was about to betray Him. Peter may have thought, "What are we, O Master, that you are so mindful of us that you become our servant? Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man." (Hebrews 2:6; Luke 5:8)

"Thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14 NAS).

During World War II Dr. Leslie D. Weatherhead gave five talks on the will of God to his City Temple congregation in England. Fortunately for the rest of the world, they were published. Every time I hear "It's God's will," I think of this remarkable little book and how it clarified God's will for me.

Late at night, as you read quietly, before you fall off to sleep...During a busy afternoon as you run through a crowd, hurrying back to your office or home....Sitting in a movie theater, a restaurant or waiting for the light to turn...

A sudden thought or image rises within you. It can come as a small nagging feeling or as a wave of emotion that threatens to overwhelm and drown you in the grief of a memory. Either way it's clear; here comes his/her ghost again.

Survivor guilt is the guilt that is carried by individuals who survive the death of loved ones or other members of a cultural, national, religious or other group that they belong to.

It is felt along with feelings of unworthiness, a sense of being undeserving, an unconscious need to join their loved ones in death, an inability to fully engage in life and all the good things it has to offer them, feelings of depression or sadness, lack of motivation, a sense of inertia, and a feeling that they are somehow bad for being alive.

What is it about Grief & Loss that upsets us so much? Is it the heavy duty emoting that we have to do to get through our suffering? Is it the fear we have about opening ourselves to all this pain? Because, let's face it, it's hard down there, in the land of grieving where all those emotions toss us around like a cork on a stormy sea.

I was with my daddy when he died. Excuse me, I was with my daddy when his spirit left his body. I drove him to the emergency room because he was having chest pains. He said that they weren't too bad, and his color was good. He was still walking.

In fact, Daddy walked into the cubicle in the ER and hopped up on the gurney. Almost as quickly, he hopped off saying, "Whew, doggie! Feels like somebody's got a knife in my back, right between my shoulder blades." Daddy said it with a great big grin on his face. That's just the way my Daddy was.

Anticipatory grief is the name given to the mix of emotions experienced when we are living in expectation of loss and grieving because of it. Anticipatory Grief is particularly relevant to those who have received a terminal diagnosis and for those who love and care for them.

Terminal diagnosis changes the very structure of our existence, takes away our control and our ability to hope and plan for the future. When someone we love is given a terminal illness, we become painfully aware of the fragility of life and may even fear for our own mortality.