During our Just Show Up Book Club on Wednesday mornings, attendees spend time listening to a book read aloud and then discuss it for a few minutes. After listening to a chapter of Suffer Strong by Katherine and Jay Wolf, the conversation centered around how difficult it is to give and receive certain words (mostly good-intentioned but unhelpful) when one is suffering. A member of the Hope@Home™ Group shared this poem and she offers it to all who have found themselves in a place of suffering or near a loved one who is suffering:
Heavy Words
By Judy Davis
When you see me
There’s something you may not see
It’s not easily visible, but there nonetheless
I’m carrying a heavy load
It’s been a hard season
A season of loss
A season of grief
A season of trying to put my life back together when I have no idea what that looks like
I’m carrying a heavy load
There are words that are heavy
I feel like I’m carrying all that I can
I need your help to carry some of the words for me
I believe God’s Word
I know it’s true
But right now, I can’t carry all of it
Some of the words are heavy
It doesn’t mean I don’t believe them
It doesn’t mean I think they are untrue
But right now, I need to hold some of them at a distance
We have God’s Words to share
Maybe heavy words could be shared as a prayer
Maybe in the form of a prayer, they will feel lighter
Do I believe God works everything together for good?
I do – I’ve experienced it
But it doesn’t happen overnight
And for this season
When my day is full of carrying the weight of grief and loss
I need help
I need words that are lighter
I’m in a season where I can’t possibly see how God could use a tragedy for good
Will you pray until I’m strong enough to carry these words?
I know in time I will be able to
But right now, I can’t
You have God’s Words to share
Will you pray them over me?
Will you pray them with me?
Will you carry them for me?
And will you walk with me until I’m able to pick them back up again?
Everyone is welcome to join our Just Show Up Book Club, Wednesdays from 11am-12pm ET. Join us>>
