Comfort

That word, comfort.


 What we are to give and what we ask the Lord to give us, but in real life I don't know how to give comfort.


I know how to hand out a verse. I know how to whip up a batch of muffins and deliver them hot from the oven.  I know how to do, but I don't know how to speak. I'm proficient at busying myself with making coffee and arranging cookies but I don't know to approach a grieving family member.






He is holding my hand tight and telling me how he found out his wife died. The blow by blow account is like a sledge hammer chopping my heart into pieces. I don't speak. Instead I squeeze the hand tighter.




Tears are running down the face of the man who tells me he wants to run away from this place. The place where death came and swiftly took his wife before he was ready to say goodbye. He tells me how it all happened. The broken pieces of my heart are chopped into slivers.




People around me are grieving. I go from person to person. Unsure of what to do or say I simply sit . Sometimes I ramble, reflecting on the memories.


 I can't stand silence.


I'm grateful when they speak to me and fill the stillness. Instinctively I want to cover my ears and shut out the harsh painful words, but still I'm grateful that they speak and I can remain in the safety of silence.




What to do. What to say. What not to say. I want answers and wisdom what to do.


 I hold tight a hand and stare into eyes that are glazed over with tears.

"Jesus wept"

Christ did not bravely gulp back tears. He do not rush in and do something. Instead he wept his own loss and the loss of those close to him. He was there in the midst of the grief acknowledging the pain by shedding His own tears.


And this is comfort. Not saying a word, but not letting go of a hand that is used to holding someone else's.


Comfort is not the band aid of quickly said cliché words.


No, comfort is going into the chaos of grief and feeling the searing pain of loss along with the bereaved person.


Comfort is weeping with those who are weeping.