Friends

Job 2:12-13 (MSG) When they first caught sight of him, they couldn't believe what they saw—they hardly recognized him! They cried out in lament, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their heads as a sign of their grief. Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven days and nights they sat there without saying a word. They could see how rotten he felt, how deeply he was suffering.

It is good to have friends, I have not had a friend 'dump dirt on their head', rip their clothes and sit with me on the ground, it does seem rather funny to me but that is not my culture.

However, us women, western women, now how to commiserate and we talk things out, let out our angst, eat chocolate, drink coffee.

There have been times when the pain in my friends have been so great that I do not know what to say and keep silent, until they speak.

When Job finally spoke he went for it. 'Oh curse the day I was born' stuff. I can relate, that is the sort of thing I hear a lot.

Yesterday I had a dear girlfriend pouring forth her grief at what family members had written about her, all nasty stuff. However offering to get a bat and beat them would not help her, well maybe it might for five minutes.

I had to bring her back to fact. What was truth? What was God saying? What was God doing? His perspective was the only one worth encountering, His is the only one that brings life.

Through all grief and pain God has a plan, and it is good, if we allow Him to be God. Amen!