After the funeral is over, our grieving friends often face their most difficult times. Before, during, and immediately after death sympathy flows like a river. But a month or two later, when loneliness and loss make their strongest impact, friends are needed more than ever.
Here are some things you can do to help your grieving friends after the funeral is over.
1. Spend time with them. To be isolated and alone in one’s bereavement is one of the worst torments that any person can endure. And every grief carries with it a distinctive loneliness. So spend time with your grieving friends. Drop by for a cup of coffee, take them shopping, invite them over for a snack, ask them to go to church with you, and above all listen to them and let them share their grief with you.
2. Help them reconstruct their lives. Sometime after the funeral the sufferer must create new patterns for living that are not emotionally tied to the past. Though it will be done with reluctance, they must turn their eyes from the past to the future and seek new interests, new knowledge, new friendships, new experiences—and yes, new life.
3. Help them with their practical problems. After a funeral there are often legal and financial matters that must be attended to. You should be available to advise and assist your friends if they need your help.
4. Share your faith and spiritual strength with them. Healing prescriptions like Philippians 4:19 can be invaluable. It admonishes us, “Don’t worry about anything: pray about everything and give thanks in all things.” Share with them how God has helped you and how he will help them.
After the funeral is over your friend may need you more than ever before. Don’t desert them in the hour of their greatest need. Keep going to them, caring for them, counseling with them, and having compassion on them.