The Sad Friday
6:56:00 PM
Well it's that time of the year again where Christians celebrate Easter.
They call this the Holy week; Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and finally Easter on Sunday.
In Kerala, people refer to Good Friday as 'Dukha Velliyacha' which literally means Sad Friday.
They call this the Holy week; Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and finally Easter on Sunday.
In Kerala, people refer to Good Friday as 'Dukha Velliyacha' which literally means Sad Friday.
Now the most obvious question that one can ask here is why is it called
sad in Malayalam and good in English (and I have been asked that
question a lot!).
Well this week, I was thinking about it and I came up with this: It's
both. It's sad because it's supposed to be the day Jesus died and it’s good
because Jesus died for me and you.
It's interesting because I realized many people, in general, view life
the same way. Something grievous happens in their lives, for some it becomes a
'Sad Friday' and for some 'Good'.
Have you ever lost anyone so dear and precious to you?
I have.
I lost my dad when I was twenty years old. I was full of grief and almost absorbed by it at the time. I was angry, hurt and upset because God didn't turn up to heal my dad of cancer.
"Where is God? Does He even exist? Doesn't He care?" Bitter as ever, those were the questions that lingered on my mind back then.
I lost my dad when I was twenty years old. I was full of grief and almost absorbed by it at the time. I was angry, hurt and upset because God didn't turn up to heal my dad of cancer.
"Where is God? Does He even exist? Doesn't He care?" Bitter as ever, those were the questions that lingered on my mind back then.
Death hurts. It could be the death of a loved one, it could be the death of our
dreams, could be a marriage or a relationship. Whatever it is, death hurts.
We all have our Sad Fridays.
We all have our Sad Fridays.
But what are we going to do about it?
Benjamin Disraeli says, "Grief is the agony of an instant. The
indulgence of grief the blunder of a life."
We can choose to wallow in our grief or we can choose to pick up
ourselves and march forward.
Don't get me wrong; I am not saying that we should not grieve over our
losses. We should. We are emotional beings and we should express our emotions.
But it becomes dangerous to stay that way forever.
The truth is that the more we choose to indulge in our griefs, the more
paralyzed we get. Life just comes to a standstill. The 'Sad Friday' can dampen
the rest of our lives.
That's why moving forward becomes necessary. We need to take things into
perspective and strive to march forward even though we have been badly hit.
Grief can paralyze us for the rest of our lives or it could be a catalyst for something new. What matters is our perspective and response
to it.
You see, here's what I believe. For every Friday that we have to go
through, we can be sure that there is a Sunday that follows.
Sunday is the day that Christians celebrate Easter. And that is the day they believe that this same Jesus who died was resurrected on that day.
Sunday is the day that Christians celebrate Easter. And that is the day they believe that this same Jesus who died was resurrected on that day.
This is why it becomes so important not to get absorbed by the Fridays
in our lives. There is a chance we may miss the big 'Sunday'.
In his book, Facing your Giants, Max Lucado puts it this way; God knows the sorrow of a grave. He buried His Son. But He also knows the joy of resurrection. And, by His power, you will too.
Grief is usually accompanied with either hope or hopelessness: 'Hope'
that things will work out and 'Hopelessness' that it will not.
If we choose to believe and tarry with hope, then we slowly learn to
pick up the broken pieces and move forward because hope begins to direct us.
It’s a choice we have to make.
I walked with hopelessness for almost three and a half years after I
lost my dad. Everything I put my hands into was a failure. Then things changed.
The story of Easter played a huge part in my life because it gave me hope in
midst of my hopelessness.
So this Easter, let's learn to move on from the 'Friday' of our lives to
the 'Sunday' that follows. Rest assured the 'Big Sunday' is coming.
"Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward." ~Henry Ford
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6 comments
Superb. Absolutely inspiring.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I think I too have asked others a few times why it is called Sad in one language and happy in the other...
Thanks Radha!
DeleteYeah, wonder why the Keralites are still at Sad Friday. It's high time to move on!
Hello Danny how are you my friend great day 4u and family keep in touch from INDONESIA.
ReplyDeleteDoing great! Hope you are too!
DeleteQuite thought provoking. It reminds me of 'No longer mourn me when I am dead'. It is a poem by Shakespeare in which he says you can mourn me when I am gone but not longer, not forever. Sorry to hear about your Dad.
ReplyDeleteTHanks Saru!
ReplyDeleteYeah, its important not to stay in what had happened but learn to pick up the pieces and move on...