promise when hurtingThe world is hurting.

Every day there is news of more violence. Shootings across America. Terrorism in the Middle East.  Planes crashing. Refugees dying. Rape victims meeting more injustice.

Hurt.

Tears.

Pain.

And at times I feel it all. Highly sensitive to the hurts of others, it is easy for me to take it into myself and feel their pain. The stress on my nervous system shows up in headaches, eczema, lack of sleep, irritation, and of course tears.

I try to protect myself. Stay away from social media. Scroll past debates and trolls.

But at times the debate comes into my own home and within myself as I feel the tension of head and heart as family members and friends wrestle with how to love.

As debates rage about guns and gay marriage and the church and sometimes I think we’ve confused faith with believing instead of living a life of faith and I see the fallout and experience the pain all over again.

[Tweet “Sometimes I think we’ve confused faith with believing instead of living a life of faith”]

What next?

My tired heart hears the call of the Beatitudes

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Oh the mourning. The tears that flow and the illness grief brings. The promise of comfort feels far away some days in a world that is so broken and which pulls at us from all angles.

But it is a promise. And I know God keeps His promises.

So I turn to His words and read some more.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

–Matthew 5:3-10 NIV

I find in His words a challenge not to rise above the pain or the suffering. Not to overcome. But to acknowledge my weakness, my inability to handle it on my own, and to fall into the arms of God. 

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I like to think I know what it means to show mercy, to be a peacemaker, to thirst for righteousness. I feel in my skin an itching for justice. A cry from my gut to bring what is right to those who have been oppressed.

But I know that if I spew out my feelings they will often be dismissed or not received by those who disagree because we all are hurting inside from being misunderstood. We all want to be right more than we want God. Even me. Especially me who often thinks I know what is the right way and am irritated by those who disagree with me.

Today, I don’t feel like I know the right way. I just know that we hurt.

[Tweet “So I pray over those who are hurting the blessings Jesus gave on that mountainside.”]

Whatever our ideas about the right way to live, to govern, to rule in this world, we all need God’s comfort, His kingdom, His mercy.

I pray that we could all begin to embody the characteristics of the Blessed. That we would bear the image of one who lives in God by Christ’s standards of weakness and humility over whatever message is popular today.

And I pray that God would meet us there. Showing us Himself. Bearing our burdens and changing our worlds. Transforming us into people who bring peace, justice, mercy, and love to the hurting. To one another.

Amen