Changing the Role

Yesterday, in a moment of frustration, I took a black marker to an empty toilet paper roll and wrote, "Change Me!" Of course, my dear husband is not the only person in our household guilty of this crime. I have avoided the job of changing the roll as well. Nonetheless, I was having a moment of angst. Truthfully, it had more to do with issues of my personal past than a mere inconvenience in the present.

Yet, all of this has got me thinking... there are times in our lives when we grieve over our past or present circumstances. And often, we make ourselves feel better by imagining situations far worse than ours. How many times have we heard (or said) "Well, I could be starving in a war-torn African country." Or "At least I am not going through what he/she is experiencing." But what if a person's current reality is absolutely awful and he/she can't imagine a life more atrocious than his/her own? What is that person supposed to do then?

I am sure you have heard the many Christian cliches in response to the above question. Two that come to mind are "Just praise the Lord" and "Name it and claim it." The secular world also tries to soothe our wounds with the "Power of Positive Thinking". It is not to say that the above advice is particularly wrong (though I have certain issues with the "Name it and claim it" philosophy). It just sounds hollow to those who are really hurting in this world.

Disappointment is part of life. Maybe we need to change our role in light of reality. Maybe we need to learn how to properly mourn before rushing ahead to fix the hurt and get on with life. And maybe, as friends of people who are hurting, we need to just listen...

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