Grief

Reading CS Lewis ‘A Grief Observed’ was a little difficult for me. One because of the way he wrote and also because I have never had to deal with grief like that. The whole time I was reading I kept asking myself “is this the CS Lewis everyone talks about to be a great Christian writer?” We had talked about how questioning God is healthy and even biblical, but I think there is a difference between questioning God’s work and questioning God’s existence. This book seemed to me a little on the side of him doubting God. I can relate with his roller-coaster mood though about how he feels completely distraught one moment, then as he goes back and reads what he wrote he questions himself as to why he would say such things. Towards the end of the book, he shows his faith in God as he continues this sort of grieving process.


I liked how he wrote “Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not in imagination” because that is where I am in my mind. Fortunately, I have never experienced the death of someone close to me, so I can sympathize for someone, but I know it will be different when I am the one grieving.  Another thing that stuck out to me was when he was talking about revisiting the grave site of lost loved ones.  Does this cause more hurt and pain or is it okay for us to go "see" them? 

Being at the cemetery reading this book made death seem so…real. As we were looking at the gravestones the people I was with were asking things like where we want to be buried and if our husbands died before us would we place a headstone for us on the plot beside them so we can be buried next to them when we die, things I wouldn’t normally think or ask myself. It really puts things into perspective that death is real and we need to live our life to the fullest while we still have the chance.