Don’t Sing Happy Songs to a Heavy Heart

​ DON’T SING HAPPY SONGS WHEN SOMEONE IS GRIEVING

A friend recently broke down sobbing when we were talking. She said, “I hate my life. I know I need to find joy in it, but I can’t. Everyone tells me I need to come to terms with what’s happened, that I need to cheer up and move on, but that makes it even harder. I feel that I need to be happy or I’m going to be judged.”

As I listened, I was convicted. In my efforts to pull other friends out of the pit, I’ve tried to hurry their grieving along. I was reminded of Proverbs 25:20, “Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on soda.”

How do you feel when you take off a garment on a cold day? Exposed. Unsafe. Frigid. When we are stripped of our protection, we are exposed to the elements. Forcing someone to listen to happy songs when they are suffering can leave them feeling alone, misunderstood and unprotected.

Vinegar on soda leads to an eruption; when we keep trying to make sad people happy, they can explode in anger. Our efforts to cheer them up can feel heartless.

DON’T SING HAPPY SONGS TO A HEAVY HEART

Singing happy songs to a heavy heart is cruel. Don’t tell grieving people that their pain is a gift or make them sing praise songs when they don’t want to. Don’t tell them that other people are suffering more than they are.

Those things may be true but rushing the process along is never helpful to those trying to come to terms with loss.

People need space to grieve and to process what they’re facing without feeling judged. Everyone grieves differently. Even when couples lose a child, each partner experiences his/her own unique grief: “Each heart knows its own sadness.” (Proverbs 14:10)

• Don’t sing happy songs to a heavy heart.
  
• Instead, sit and listen.
  
• Pray.
  
• Empathize if you can; be quiet if you can’t.

SHOW UP WHEN PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING

My friend Christa Wells wrote a song (Come Close Now) about how to enter in to our friends’ pain, being willing to draw close and just sit with them. Come Close Now reminds me that I shouldn’t be afraid of sounding foolish — I just need to show up when people are suffering. The lyrics, some of which are included here, convict me:

I’m afraid of the space where you suffer
Where you sit in the smoke and the burn
I can’t handle the choke or the danger
Of my own foolish, inadequate words
I’ll be right outside if you need me
Right outside

…

Shall I brave the heat and come close with you now?
Can I come close now?

…

Lay down our plans
Lay down the sure-fire fix
Grief’s gonna stay awhile,
There is no cure for this
We watch for return,
We speak what we’ve heard
We sit together, in the burn

…

As Christa shows us, we can lighten our friends’ burdens when we are willing to come close, but we may need their invitation to start speaking. Sometimes we need to listen as they talk about what’s hard, about what they’ve lost, about how they feel.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

One way to start the conversation could be, “This must be so hard. If this had happened to me, I’d be tempted to give in to bitterness, anger or self-pity. How are you feeling?” Sharing our own struggles and temptations invites sufferers to speak, knowing they won’t be judged.

If our grieving friends do speak, let them talk without interrupting or correcting. Invite them to share their inner dialogue, to name their fears, to voice what they’ve been telling themselves about their suffering. We talk to ourselves all day long, either speaking words of fear, despair, anger, courage, resolve and/or hope. What we tell ourselves matters — and whether we invite the Lord into this dialogue matters as well.

It’s a fine balance, but as you listen, you can point them to the Lord.

• We all need reminders that God is with us in the fire (Isaiah 43:2b).
• We all need to know he will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5b).
• All of us need assurance that the Lord is doing things in and through our pain that one day we will see and over which we can rejoice. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Don’t overthink your words as if they are the only hope for your friends. The best thing you can do is pray, because only the Lord can deliver them.

Pray for…

• their healing (James 5:13-15).
• their health and well-being (3 John 1:2).
• spiritual blessings like increased faith (Luke 22:32).
• them to be sanctified through their suffering (Philippians 3:8-10).
• them to be strengthened by the Spirit, that they might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19).

DON’T SING HAPPY SONGS TO A HEAVY HEART: BE GENTLE

I’m not an expert on knowing how to pray or what to say, but I have seen suffering from different angles.  I’ve discouraged suffering friends and I’ve been wounded by people trying to encourage me. I know the power of prayer, the importance of having friends show up, and the gift of having friends process my tangled thoughts with me.

THIS IS WHAT I’VE LEARNED:

• Be gentle with your grieving friends, and don’t press them to talk or to count their blessings when they’re not ready.
• Climb down into the pit with them. Sit with them in their pain. (Job 2:13)
• Comfort them as the Lord has comforted you (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
• Above all, pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

First published at Vaneetha Risner on May 16, 2019. *Published by permission.