almost ridiculous

Many things are heavy on my heart today. Every now and then I become so baffled by the exquisitively lovely parts of life that are mingled with the unbelievably painful events. We are walking around with incredible pain yet doing normal, painless tasks. Marriages are falling apart, governments are embedded in political turmoil, people are suffering under evil regimes, and at the same time we're filling our cars with gas, running errands, changing our kids' diapers, brushing our teeth, and Swiffering our floors because life goes on. The show must go on. The mundane is part of our lives every bit as much as the spiritual and emotional parts of us are. It's almost ridiculous. The only reason it's not completely ridiculous is that there is divine Meaning and Truth behind it all. If it weren't for that, I would be going insane.

Sometimes the world is just too much for me to take in. I can't stop crying for my pain and for others' pain. We're all so fragile - even the ones who don't know they are.

To those of us who believe, who call ourselves followers of Christ: let's put aside our selfishness, our passive-aggressiveness, our defensiveness. I challenge you as I challenge myself to think of yourself as the one doing that to others, hurting others). How about we remember that Christ was tortured on the cross and absorbed God's wrath for our sakes. How about we live like people who have hope?

“Do not cry to me. I can only cry with you. I will not die for you. I am still too young in the meaning of love. Talk to the Fool, to the one who left a throne to enter an anthill. He will enter your shadow. It cannot taint Him. He has done it before. His holiness is not fragile. It burns like a father to the sun. Touch His skin, put your hand in His side. He has kept His scars when He did not have to. Give Him your pain and watch it overwhelmed, burned away in the joy He takes in loving. In stooping.” 
― N.D. Wilson Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl