When you live north of Chicago and it’s almost Thanksgiving, most people celebrate when it rains outside instead of snows (that is, unless your still attending grade school…or maybe even high school). In fact, the weather forecast is for snow the day after Thanksgiving; but inside we are having a regular downpour and we are feeling very alone in our drenched misery.
We had more work done on our non-teeth again this week, and with that comes showers of pain amidst and torrential down pours of tears. I know that we have much to be very thankful for; but with that granted may we please have a moment of self-pity. I’m ever so extremely tired of putting forth the effort to put on a happy face and ignore the agony I feel for the sake of others. I happen to know of at least one offspring who is feeling just as miserable as I am today and even for that I am longing for relief (for her, I mean – not for me…my tears and heartache for her grief). When a daughter hurts it dishes out a double portion for a deeply caring mother.
I had planned to type out a Psalm and intersperse it with personal application..Psalms 34 or 35, I think; but my tears make it impossible for me to read the small type of my tiny, light-weight Bible, even with the magnifier I keep tucked within it’s pages. David is so good at pouring his grief and heartache out to God sprinkled with moments of great appreciation and gratitude. That’s how I feel, though I confess my feelings lean a bit heavily on the grief and heartache side. If I do remember correctly from last night, David did too in this specific Psalm. Oh well, you’ll just have to go read the two Psalms for yourselves and decide which one I’m referring to..
The most amazing thing of all is that His shoulders are broad enough to handle even our most muddled mixture of emotions. Even when its raining or snowing or whatever it’s doing outside, inside of His sheltering arms we can take refuge and find comfort and appreciation amidst our deepest grief.
I know it will not be miserable forever. At some point the pain and grief will subside and a rainbow is sure to appear somewhere if we can only find the courage to look outside of our own misery to find it. Even that ability comes as a gift from an all-loving, all-forgiving Abba Daddy Father God, if we will but receive if from Him. He never minimizes what we are feeling or mimics our pain; but is sensitive to our every ache. He made us that way, after all; so He knows we are only being human.
So if you, too, are feeling a bit melancholy today, or if your body is riddled with grief and pain, please join with us and take refuge among the Psalms; and feel free to add your own accolade of agony to David’s Psalms. (and if it isn’t in chapters 34 or 35, keep reading – it’s in there somewhere ( :
