Why is it that we shy away from hurt when we know the true beauty of weeping with someone who is swimming in an ocean of sorrow?
I see this trend everywhere, and have experienced it first hand. I've been the one needing comfort, refusing comfort, refusing to give comfort, and I hope to God I've been the one giving it to someone who desperately needed it.
We like to talk about the highs of life, and refuse to share our lows. We like to commend someone when they "look" as though they're happy.....yet we ignore them when we know life is beating the daylights out of them. We like to tell people to look on the bright side. We talk about only thinking "positive" thoughts, saying positive things. And what always erks me is when we use a Bible verse to manipulate someone into thinking their hurt is wrong, wrong, wrong. Unwelcome, only smiles belong here! And I'll show you the verses in this here Bible that support my views on the power of positive living!
How dare we?
Then there's my all time, absolutely, hum-dinger of a lie that we hold so dear, "Well, God will never give us more than we can handle!"... Lie.
God does. This lie comes from a misread of a verse that has nothing to do with that.
There WILL be times when sorrow surrounds us. There will be times we wrestle with the unexplained, when we question all of our beliefs. There will be other times we are underneath such darkness that we don't even have the strength to think. All we can do is sit there and hurt.
At the first of the year, I mentioned I needed to sit down. Well, what I sought out has found me. I have had no choice but to sit down the past several days. I sprained my foot, so yay. (Don't ask how, because I don't even know!) It frustrates me, because like most people, I don't want to be slowed down. Then my husband got sick. Then our son woke up sick. Because I don't want them to be left out I guess, I am now sick. Bless his heart, my husband had to do a lot more because I'm unable...all that on top of his sickness, and all the work he has to get done.
I can't help but think as I'm here, unable to do all the millions of things that need done on a daily basis, as I need help taking care of my family, help taking care of myself so my foot will heal properly.......these are those times that my Momma would've come to stay the week with us, and helped us out. She had done it before, lots of times. She was just that way.
Her absence affects so much.
No, I'm not playing my fiddle. (If I were, so what?) Right now, these circumstances are not ideal. Yes, they could be far worse, trust me.....I have seen worse. But it's these times that only a Momma would swoop in and take the reigns for her child, because that is what Mommas do.
I guess what I'm trying to say to you is this: for the burdens you are carrying, for the ache in your heart, for the sorrow that surrounds, you are not alone. Don't let someone silence your pain. Life is not all peaches and roses. It is often heavy with hurt. Don't ignore it, live it. No, there may not be some grand lesson God is trying to "teach" you......sheesh that bothers me. Life just may hurt right now. Whether you like it or not. Find those people in your life who will wrap their arms around you, whether in silence or words, and get the comfort you need. Don't buy into empty theologies and philosophies.
***God is big enough to hear us complain, small enough to hurt with us, and loving enough to be present in our pain.***
That, my friend, is Good News.
