Dear Friends:

A mother sent her young daughter on an errand to a nearby neighbor’s house. The little girl was late coming back, and her mother asked for an explanation. The child explained that a playmate of hers down the street had fallen and, in falling, had broken her doll. The child was late coming home because she had stopped to help her. The mother asked what she could possibly have been able to do to help fix the broken doll. The little girl answered, “Oh, I couldn’t fix it. I just sat down and helped her cry.” (1)

We read in the Bible about Job’s friends who did that for him:

“. . . they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud . . . Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:11b-13).

If they had simply continued what they did in week one of Job’s struggles, their help could have been quite effective. But, after a week of silent support, they did what we are often tempted to do – they tried to figure out the problem on their own. They offered advice that was not sought. They spoke for God when he would rather speak for himself. They started out right, though when they just sat with Job and shared his pain.

Do you know anyone in your circle of friends who needs someone to sit down and help them cry? Sometimes the best thing we can do for a person at a particular time is to be near as a friend. We help them, laugh with them, empathize with them, and let them know that we care. When we do that with a heart open to the direction of the Holy Spirit and eyes and ears open for opportunities to point them to Jesus, we can be used when God leads us to action and when the person is ready to hear and receive.

Maybe you are the one who needs someone to cry with you, someone to listen to you, someone to care that you are suffering. Even when there is no human close by who will do that for you, there is Someone who cares enough to be there for you.

Kathleen Norris tells of her growing up years in a three-generation commune in Honolulu. She comments, “The arrangement is not uncommon there, because of the many Japanese- and Chinese-Americans, for whom such family structures are traditional. . . For my family the venture began as a way for everyone to have a place to live in the face of Hawaii’s exorbitant housing prices, and at first it spanned four generations. . . But over the years, the family has found many reasons to value this way of life. Then she recounts the story of one of her little nieces who, when asked by her kindergarten teacher how a family member might be reached if needed during the day, answered “There’s always somebody home at my house.” (2)

“There’s always somebody home at my house.” No answering machine, no need to chase someone down on a cell phone, no unanswered knocks at the door. That truth spoke security to a little kindergartner’s heart. And that’s how it is with our spiritual family, too. God, our Father is always home, always ready to hear from us, always available.

God really does want to hear from you. He really does want you to open your heart to him. He is ready to show you how much he cares about your pain.

There is nothing that delights a father more than knowing his children like to be with him, that they rely on him, that they confide in him, and that they learn from him. So, God, our heavenly Father, invites us to come. Jesus, by his death on the cross, opened wide the door for us to come boldly into our Father’s presence. He’s always home and he is always inviting us to come.

We are living in difficult times. Some of you are struggling with finances, marriages, children, jobs, and all kinds of stresses. And if you are not, you know someone who is. As members of the family of God, we need to be available to each other as Paul says,

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you: bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (Romans 12:9-15)

And, never forget that God is our Father, our help in times of trouble. He is the one, in the person of Jesus, who wept with Mary and Martha when their brother had died. He is the one will weep with us as we remember this word,

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

May we show the love of Jesus as we laugh and cry together!

Bev

(1) Charles Allen, Perfect Peace (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1979), p. 134
(2) Norris, Kathleen, The Cloister Walk ( ), p. 81

http://www.beverlyvankampen.com