Open Our Hearts

From time to time, we all suffer. It’s a very real aspect of life, isn’t it? And it is tempting to try to avoid it – or deny it. It is tempting to try and shield ourselves and our loved ones from it.

I was visiting with some friends several years ago, and she was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and starting to lose her memory. She said, “Joe, you know the most difficult part of all this is that my friends have stopped calling me. Maybe they are afraid. Maybe they don’t know what to say. But the thing is, I don’t care what they say. I just don’t want to lose them as friends.”

I know other people who when they go through a hard time, it’s almost just the opposite. They won’t allow others in. When they’re suffering they shut down and shut off.

The irony is, just when people need us the most, just when we need them the most, we become uncomfortable and we run from something that actually makes us more human. That suffering and that need get at the root of what it means to be human. It is something we all share in common. It is something that transcends skin color and social-economic status. It’s a deep point of connection.

Jesus once said, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)

Part of what he was trying to teach us is that the greatest meaning, joy, and hope come from giving away life for the sake of others, helping others, sharing with others in the most difficult times. And so I pray today that you would have people around you who are willing to share in your brokenness and may you be willing to walk with them through theirs.

Let us pray: God of Hope, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with us. Help us to live out of this promise and this hope even as we share it with others. In Christ’s name. Amen.