Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“If we are willing, the experience of grief can deepen and widen our ability to participate in life. We can become more grateful for the gifts we have been given, more open-handed in our handling of the events of life, more sensitive to the whole mysterious process of life, and more trusting in our adventure with God.”
John R. Claypool in Tracks of a Fellow Struggler (New Orleans: Insight, 1974) 88.
We are living in a time when we interact with people who have experienced loss, suffering, grief, and pain. It can cause us to live close-fisted and insensitive lives. Alternatively, God desires that we appear as open-handed and sensitive conduits of comfort. But how is it possible?
As I pause from work in Maputo, Mozambique (pictured above on the India ocean) today to catch up on emails and rest, I am reflecting on the moments on this trip when I have heard hard news. Or when I have seen with my eyes, unimaginable poverty and brokenness. In real-time I find I need to receive comfort to give it.
While we cannot solve the world’s problems, we can serve those God puts in front of us. Often, the best reply comes into view as comforting the hurting by listening, loving, and praying for them, and aiding them as we are able with what we have and with the comfort we have received from God.
For each person, as Claypool rightly notes, it becomes a trust journey or an adventure with God. Though we have different capacities, we all have the same responsibility: to participate in the highs and lows of life with one another with a grateful and generous, open-handed and sensitive posture. God help us all.