Comfort

I was pretty clumsy when I was little (I’m still not the picture of grace).  When I fell down and got a scrape or a cut, I’d run home so that Mom could take care of me. She would clean things up, put some Mercurochrome and a Band-Aid on it, give me some comfort and send me back out on my way. I’m not sure which of those was the most effective but I know that I felt better afterwards.

 

We live in an imperfect world.  Bad things happen to us, people we love get sick or die, until sometimes all the color gets sucked out of our lives and everything just seems black.  The darker it gets, the more we need to run to our loving God for comfort.  There is no cure for the sadness when a loved one dies.  Grief is a natural part of our human existence. We can, however, cling to God and express to Him our deepest thoughts and emotions, asking Him to help us to have peace in the midst of our trials, knowing that He cares for us and will always be with us. We can seek out and accept the help of fellow Christian brothers and sisters that God sends to minister to us, remembering that we are not alone. And we can have hope.

 

“We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…..and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rm 5:1-4).