A few weeks ago we spent some time with our granddaughters in Sioux Center. Part of the joy of spending time with them is to watch their emerging personalities and to watch how they respond to conflict and crisis. Sauren, who is the middle child, is three years old. She is always happy and bubbly and often dances around on her tippy toes. She spends a great deal of time in her imaginary little world having real life conversations with her dolls.
While we were there Suaren decided to go out onto the deck through the sliding doors in the kitchen. However, as she was crossing the threshold where the door slides on, she tripped and face planted right on to the deck. Vicki was standing right beside the open door and quickly scooped her up, and of course by that time Sauren was having a pretty good cry (the kind of cry when you can’t breathe for a bit). Vicki frantically checked her over; thank goodness all of her teeth were in their original setting.
Vicki continued to console her, lavishing her with kisses and assurance that nothing was bleeding and that everything was okay. But then after a few moments Sauren began to squirm to escape from Vicki’s loving arms, she wanted to lie on the couch; she wanted to be alone in her pain.
Sensing her pain, our oldest granddaughter, Rilyn, stepped in and offered Sauren some candy, but the trauma was still too fresh, and so she angrily turned away and repeated her request to lie on the couch. So Vicki laid her on the couch, propping her head on a pillow. Then as Vicki began to turn away, still whimpering, Sauren asked her to go find her purple blanket—“the one with the dots”—“and, Bramma, can you bring me my IPad too.” And so after Vicki brought the blanky and the IPad to Sauren, she was able to begin her road to recovery—alone with her sources of comfort.
As I reflected on Sauren’s response to her crisis, I wondered if my reactions are much the same when I stumble and fall and when my ego gets bruised. Do I resist the Holy Spirit’s attempt to lavish me with love and words of encouragement? Do I respond with anger when other’s try to cheer me up? Would I rather be alone at my pity party? And what are my first choices when trying to medicate my pain? (Mountain Dew and donuts, of course J)
We live in a society with a great deal of pain don’t we; a society full of people medicating themselves with alcohol, with a variety of drugs, with pornography and other fantasy escapes, by buying more stuff, by seeking to be “liked” and yet remaining isolated—the list of ways we seek to comfort our pain are endless.
And yet may it not be so with you and me. May we be a people who, in the midst of our pain, first seek comfort from God while at the same time allowing others to sit with us. And may we live confidently in the promises of Psalm 34, “I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.”
Seeking to recover in Christ alone, Mike Altena