Heart Aches and Doorways

This past month has been a week of heart aches:  Violence at the Boston marathon, the explosion in Texas, floods in the Midwest, earthquake in China, the death of a local teenager and a pastor friend, plus just the day to day “little deaths” of hopes and dreams, of illnesses and growing limitations we all experience.  My emotional plate has been full to overflowing ; and maybe yours is too. 

There seem to be weeks when the heart aches outweigh the celebrations.

While the question of “why” is normal,  I find that “why” has no satisfying answer.  I find myself asking, “What do I/we do next?”  Given what has transpired, what do we do next?

One step is to embrace the heart ache.  It is a sign or expression that life is important.  Embrace the hurt and whatever emotions go with it including frustration, anger, tears, rage, confusion, emptiness.  Embrace the heart ache and see what it has to teach us about loving God,  others and ourselves.  Value the ache as a doorway through which God’s presence may enter.

This morning I read Psalm 103 as my devotional reading for the day.  You may (or may not ) be aware that one of my spiritual practices is to read a psalm a day, listening for a word or phrase God may have for me to ponder through the day.  Most of the time I will write a reflection or response to the psalm in a daily journal I keep.  Here is what I heard in psalm 103:8-19 (selected verses)

“The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    very patient, and full of faithful love…
 He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin
    or repay us according to our wrongdoing,
   because as high as heaven is above the earth,
    that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him.
 As far as east is from west—
    that’s how far God has removed our sin from us.
 Like a parent feels compassion for their children—
    that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him. Because God knows how we’re made,  God remembers we’re just dust…  But the Lord’s faithful love is from forever ago to forever from now for those who honor him.”

 And God’s righteousness reaches to the grandchildren of those who keep his covenant and remember to keep his commands.   The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
 and his kingdom rules over all.”

When our hearts ache, faith teaches us that God is like a compassionate parent whose faithful love gathers us in.  I am also reminded that the word “compassion” means to “suffer with” and that God’s “righteousness” is God’s power of life that conquers evil and death.

Heart aches are worth pondering as doorways for God’s suffering with us as the presence of  the power of life.