A Need to Know Basis

My good friend has a good friend whose dying.

pain. sickness. disease.

Sometimes I feel I'm suffocating under the weight and reality of it all. Sometimes I have to just stop listening, stop looking.  I retreat.

How do you comfort the dying?  How do you comfort one who needs to comfort the dying? 

My homepage spills the headlines of global crises.

famine. starvation. oppression.

Sometimes I feel so distant I can easily compartmentalize.  A coping mechanism for sure.  I avoid.

How does one person make a difference?  How can one person impact world issues?

Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go".

Yeah, suffering plants my heart prostrate before the Sovereign One.  Sometimes asking why.  Sometimes just tears.  Always with aches and groans of soul.

Too many of my questions are answered with a sad shake of the head and an "I don't know".  In the face of suffering of any kind, I find I always return to what I do know to be true.

I know scarier than the words of suffering are these...

     inaction. apathy. injustice.

     blindness. racism. selfishness.

I know stronger than the lies of insignificance are the abilities to contribute one small deed at a time.

I know I have a choice...every day...every hour...every moment.

I know my choices bring healing or add to suffering - even in my little corner of the world.

I know...

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

And sometimes that is all I need to know.