Jesus Wept

Not a single one of us looks forward to the death of someone dear to us. It is the deepest of all aches and we want desperately to avoid it. While we try so hard to walk through the grief we sometimes forget that it is a tribute to those we lost for the people who valued them to "feel". It is an outward and inward demonstration of the immeasurable amount of love we had for them. I don't think we understand that in our culture. We want so badly to take away everyone's pain that we don't allow the people who need to express it to do so. It's OK to hurt today. Pain is like a shovel in our soul. It digs through all the petty arguments and all the perceived little wounds that keep us separated from one another on a daily basis. It pitches those to the side and allows compassion to rise to the surface. It opens our heart's doors to people we would not have let in before. It gives us the opportunity to both run to each other and to God. "2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."