Lamentations

A failure to lament is a failure to connect. If we refuse to learn lamentations, our lives fragment into episodes and anecdotes, a succession of jerky starts and gossipy cul-de-sacs, But we’re in a story in which everything eventually comes together, a narrative in which all the puzzling parts finally fit, about which years later we exclaim, “Oh, so that’s what it meant!” But being in a story means that we mustn’t attempt to get ahead of the plot—skip the hard parts, erase the painful arts, detour the disappointments. Lament—making the most of our loss without getting bogged down in it—is a primary way of staying in the story. God is telling the story, remember. It’s a large, capacious story. He doesn’t look kindly on our editorial deletions. But he delights in our poetry.
from Earthly Spirituality for Everyday Christians…Eugene Peterson