Day 18: Frail

A man righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel

Luke 2:25

Recently in our ministry we’ve encountered a plethora of pain. It is the great blessing of vocational ministry perhaps, that we get to hear more stories than we would otherwise. Being among God’s people in various places guarantees this, but we also seem to have an affinity for being drawn to the hurting. From a refugee pastor fleeing persecution only to lose all of his children in a tragic house fire in the U.S., to a widowed spouse estranged from all of their children and doubly alone, to another widow processing the loss of a disabled spouse after the long marathon of caretaking comes to its end, to the newly divorced mother of homeschooled children who never imagined this would come into her life, and so many more, the landscape of human suffering is bleaker than most of us can bear to behold in its fullness. The faithfulness of God’s people is a fragile and delicate thing, many hanging by narrow threads of trust, yet they are somehow sustained. 

So many of us who ache deeply, long for the day when those fragile threads might be woven into something more stable and secure.Yet there is some beauty to be witnessed in the frailty of it, that those unlikely and delicate threads hold fast against despair, nay…through the despair. 

Like Simeon, we await a consolation, a reason to keep trying, to continue in the midst of the desolation. It is Christ, who finds us in the quiet moments of desperation, in the moments we stare into the ceiling, glad that the respite of sleep will allow a reprieve from the heartache of the waking afflictions. He draws near, brings illuminating comfort of His presence, and hope for a new day. He holds those threads and guards them, disallowing the billow or blast that would break them, but permitting so many others.