Tears

‎"Don't worry about crying in front of me, and don't be afraid that you'll make me cry.Your tears tell me you care, and my tears tell you that you've touched me in a place that is meaningful to me- and I will never forget your willingness to share my grief."- Nancy Guthrie, Holding On To Hope
 Sometimes I'm baffled at how we miss opportunities to care for each other. I love reading in the Bible how friends would come and mourn and grieve with friends who experienced great loss. Yet we seem to rush each other through pain or fear bringing up obvious hard trials friends are going through because we don't want to "make them cry".

Nancy Guthrie shared that in her deep hurt and loss, the friends who cried with her were such a gift that it felt like they actually carried the burden with her of her grief and tears. Jesus himself is a beautiful example of that (John 11).

I saw both in my darker days. Friends who sat with me or heard my stories again and again about the people I loved and missed dearly and people who said I had grieved too long and needed to move on. How sad that some people didn't realize the beauty and necessity of my sadness. I loved deeply and so the loss was real and felt painful. In some cases, life after death was no comfort- It is very likely that some I've loved willingly chose to reject Christ and heaven. There is an enormous grief and pain that comes when they die that is hard, but yet so good to go through. I'm thankful for my grief. It was in those times that I came to know the Holy Spirit as Comforter and in that darkness I saw Jesus as the "Light of the World". My heart is fuller and more confident in Christ today because of those seasons. 

I'm reminded today that we have an opportunity to live differently from the world that says "move on". We have a chance to weep with those who weep and pray for God's nearness as they grieve. Oh may I be a friend that draws near to the hurting to cry with them.

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