Acquainted With Grief

I love Jesus for alot of reasons.
Right now, I especially love Him
because He is not afraid of my sorrow.
He does not hide from me.

Isaiah, the prophet, wrote of the coming Messiah,
that He would be, "...a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief."

We pray, "Oh, Lord, I want to be more like You."

Do we really want to be like Him?

Do we want to be familiar with sorrow and grief?

I find that I like deep people;
people who have been through some things in life.
People who have known the pain of loss.
People who listen and lean in with their heart.

These people will not hide their faces
from me when I've become acquainted with grief--again.
These people will not wait to relate to me
until I'm 'myself' again.
These people will risk saying and doing the wrong thing
rather than saying and doing nothing at all.

There is something about sorrow that
makes people want to run.
But Jesus knows about that too.

"...a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were,
our faces from Him..."

I feel like some have hidden their face from me.
Perhaps, they are overwhelmed with their own burdens
and I should be there for them.
Perhaps they are hiding and praying for me.

And I am thankful for those who through
their presence, words, phone calls, and cards,
are helping to lighten the familiarity of sadness.

Surely, He has borne my griefs
and carried my sorrows,
and sometimes,
He uses people.