“The Tear Vial” By Kara Liggett

December 23 

Psalm 34:18 - "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He recues those whose spirits are crushed.”

An evening childhood ritual I can remember vividly is when my mom would come in to tell me good-night.  She would kneel next to my bed, and usually, she would read a part of a book that we were working our way through, then she would say her prayer for me. 

One time she came in the room to find that I was crying.  The book I was reading had been flung across the room where it laid sprawled out, pages all crumpled and spine bent.  She went to retrieve the book from the place it had landed and asked what was the matter.  I proceeded to tell her that it was “too sad.”  I couldn’t stand the part in the book where the boy had to kill his horse in order to save her from pain.   My mom knelt next to my bed, pushed my hair off my forehead, helped me wipe my tears with a Kleenex, and then asked me to do the unthinkable-  She wanted me to read the sad part aloud to her.  

At first, I didn’t think I would make it through the part again however, with the presence of my mom there by my side, rubbing my arm, I was able to get through the whole part about the struggle of having to “save” his horse by letting her go.

For some people, this may not seem like a big deal, but I wasn’t a kid who did a whole lot of unnecessary “emotional” crying.  I pouted and bawled at the usual things, but I didn’t get worked up over the same sensitive issues that bothered my sister.  This crying over a book was new emotional territory for me.

Our Christian walk is no different, God sometimes takes us to new emotional places that hurt.  We can thrash about and resist all we want, but all of our “thrown books” and tantrums and breakdowns will lead us to the ultimate prize- God’s presence.  Just like my crying led to having my mom, kneeling by my bedside, asking me to do the impossible- confront that sadness and read that book to her; God will sometimes ask us to do take on an impossible task, but not alone.  We can confront our fears, our sadnesses, our heartbreaks, all those intangible impossibilities that keep us up at night and gnaw at our guts during day, God says, “Child, I’m right here, let’s take this challenge on TOGETHER!!” 

Guess what?  I still can’t read that book without getting weepy.  However, I’ve also learned that going through a hard time doesn’t have to be done alone.  Even if it means just leaning on family or Christian friends, sometimes that’s enough.  God will provide comfort through people He places strategically in our lives when He doesn’t do it Himself.