The Sweetest Thing

Sometimes days go on... one after the other after the other. There are little sparks of different in them, but in general they move on in a similar progression. We wake up, we work, we play, we sleep. And during those days things happen; things build up, things are hard, things are challenging. I find that sometimes those tough things get buried underneath the regular day to day things. They find their ways into the crevices of life and kind of hide there. We pray for the challenges of others, we want to walk with those who are experiencing hard things. We take those things and also put them into the crevices of our life.

Once in awhile the crevices break under pressure - things ooze out and start affecting our normal way of life. We stutter step through the mundane. We jump through the hoops and try to avoid the oozings going on around us. We deeply feel the pain of others. We feel lost with not knowing what to do. We try to run on our treadmills, letting those things go round and round and round.

Here's what I found out today or perhaps I was reminded of today. There are people out there who recognize that the treadmills we are trying to run on are bumpy with the oozing of life. They recognize, somehow, that life has been challenging. But they don't just sit there watching us run relentlessly along - they quietly step in and encourage us to start fixing our machinery. These people - these people sent, I believe, from God, are not doctors or magicians who can magically take away the hard stuff. They are not jumping in to our lives to try and control or take over and fix things. They, in their quiet way, just let us know that we are not alone.

Today I was gifted with two small pieces of paper. On those pieces of paper were the scrawls of someone who was reaching out. The words weren't eloquent, they weren't poetry in motion, they weren't deep and heavy... they were just simple words. "...I tend to find comfort for myself and sharing with others, in music. I will leave my phone with you and if you want to go somewhere quiet and listen to the 3 pieces I heard today... thinking of you." (There is more, but this was the jist of it.)

We don't need to 'save' people. We don't always need to 'fix' things for people. But we do need to be there for people. I want to be like that person who quietly handed me those two pieces of paper today. They wore the skin of Jesus in their quiet way. They touched my heart and gave me courage and faith to keep going.

May I find (more often) scrap paper, a pen and a soul that I too can encourage.

One of the songs that was shared: Healing Rain by Michael W Smith <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Bo1bjTOFbZA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>