There are people close to me who hurt.
I see strangers who hurt.
I ache to give each person a word or a thought that will make this better, but I've come to realize that pain doesn't work that way. I'd even go so far as to say that even those who experience healing at a core level will probably remember this wound certain wounds the rest of their lives.
People who assume we can just move on from such a hit have probably never been hit that hard.
I do know, though, that life can get to the point where the pain doesn't define our day. It can be tough, because sometimes we are all afraid to "continue on" because it may seem to cheapen the loss.
I'm reminded of a man I once knew who served as a custodian in a church I was in. He was an older guy, and we'd chat about this or that. One day during the Halloween season he spontaneously told me about the way his son years ago happened to dress up like Charlie Chaplin. It felt like he was describing a ten-year old, and yet he shared it like it all happened yesterday.
So I asked a bit further about his son, since I'd never heard him mention him before. His face changed from a smile to am almost-controlled sob... almost. He shared that his son had died in Vietnam. Just like the Charlie Chaplin story, it seemed as if it had happened yesterday in how he told it.
Of course, he then moved on to his job and duties after that moment...
but that moment was there.
Sometimes that moment doesn't go away.
It is the remnant of pain.
And yet... it is not the end of the Story.
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Romans 8:18)
