For Crying Out Loud

Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17

I may have briefly mentioned the passing of our 15-year constant companion; our cat Muffin. She had developed kidney failure in her old age. As a result, instead of watching her go through a painful end of life, we decided as a family to put her to sleep.

I'm not completely ready yet to talk about the details of that night, it's enough to know for now that we as a family were very distraught. It's been 2 weeks, now, and I still find myself crying out loud at the loss of our Muffin.

In Sunday School this past Sunday, we talked about the moments in our lives which made us most sad, scared, or angry. We were asked to remember the events that led up to that moment. We thought about who we blamed, how alone we were, if there was anyone that could have been there to ask for help.

When it was time to share out, not one person in a room of 10 said they asked God for help. However 7 out of the 10 admitted to getting mad and even blaming God for the things that went wrong. We also discovered that that's okay. Sometimes we get so caught up in our anger or sadness that we can't see anything around us except the pain. It's in those moments we forget that God is with us and trying to comfort us.

The more we talked about the things that made us "blind with negative emotions", the more we also discovered that God never leaves our side, often putting other people in our path as well. It's just up to us to realize that it's God who's whispering to us the words, "I love you, I'll never I'll never leave you, together we can get through this."

After Sunday School I felt a relief, of sorts, in remembering that there are people who want to share in my pain, as well as a God who holds me in tight comfort as I go through it. Some things, like the passing of a loved one, are difficult enough without thinking nobody is there for you. Like the psalmist, we cry out all day long for happiness to come again. And you know...it will.

Such is the promise of our God.