Seeking Comfort
BIBLICAL POINT OF REFERENCE:
"In those days a great number who believed turned to the Lord.The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch.When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith."
~Acts 11:21-24
I’ve come to recognize something about myself: I do not always know what is best. Not for me, not for my family, not for that stranger I randomly judged when walking into work, not for anyone. That means that, more often than not, I can’t solve all of my problems.
I don’t like that. I don’t like thinking that there isn’t a solution to an issue I’m facing, because pessimism doesn’t run in my veins. And since it’s my life, I should be able to fix whatever the problem is.
In our reading for yesterday, we read about Barnabus and how he encouraged and comforted those around him. Barnabus was a good man, a faithful man, as Acts 11:21 tells us. He brought more people into the Church and taught them as the first Christians of the time.
I wonder what Barnabus would say to my musings above. Would he tell me that it’s all going to be okay? Would he empathize with my struggles and encourage me to keep facing them with strength?
Probably, but I think he would first seek to comfort me. “Barnabus”, after all, literally means “son of comfort”.
That’s what God would do too, isn’t it? He would calm me down, take me into His arms, and comfort me for as long as I needed.
Why don’t we have more people like Barnabus in our lives? Why don’t we comfort those around us before we condemn them to solve their problems? Why do we seek to constantly build each other up without allowing them to acknowledge their pain first? We don’t have to hide ourselves from those around us. We don’t have to hide our emotions and our problems from the One who knows them all.
So I can’t solve all of my problems by myself. No one can. But we can seek comfort in the Lord and in His apostles and disciples. We can seek to encourage others to find comfort in God and all His wondrous deeds. We can allow ourselves to heal before we jump back into the fast-paced world we live in.
I hope your week is encouraging, my sisters.
Your Laughing Sister,
Callahan
