Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5 (NLT)
I’ve never been in a choir that sang at so many funerals—another one last Sunday. September has been a long month of loss and sadness yet followed by assurance that heaven is a much better home. I didn’t personally know the man we celebrated on Sunday but that doesn’t mean a few tears didn’t drip down my cheeks. I think of my dad and Mark’s mom who live each day expecting to see Jesus soon and when that time of memorial might be for my family.
Loss rears its head in many ways. I often think of the Kubler-Ross, Five Stages of Grief, when talking with someone in the midst of great pain. No one follows the stages exactly but it gives some structure to a world that has been turned upside down. Acceptance, the final stage, is a journey that meanders, meets road blocks, seems impossible at times, but eventually smoothes out to a steady path.
While reading a couple of my favorite online devotions this week, both emphasized the concept of compassion. Listen to Alan Redpath: “You can never lighten the load unless you have first felt the pressure in your own soul.” I realized that my tears echoed my willingness to feel their pain as if it was my own. Due to the twists in turns in my life, God, in His faithfulness ,has softened the hard-charging girl I once was and given me a heart of compassion.
I’m not sure how God wants me to live out compassion but I’m trying to listen to His still small voice. I stopped by and gave my friend a hug. I have a couple of phone calls to make. Any ideas?