By and By

I just took some medicine for a migraine. I took a nap earlier. When you can sleep, the pain goes away. But, there is the waking, and so many people cannot sleep for their pain is too great anyway. So what to do for the sleep-deprived and soul-weary?

We can keep others' sufferings at a distance. We get comfortable with our happy sphere of life. We try our best to keep our bubbles intact and impenetrable, until one day they are not. It all feels overwhelming tonight. My head pounds, my heart aches, and the tears fall for those who suffer {people I know personally, people in Colorado, people all around this big sphere}. I ponder the response. How, in our daily lives, do we respond to others' sufferings? How can I not ignore the broken and hurting all around me? And sometimes I think we try to choose the convoluted answers, when it is more simple, straightforward, but by no means easy. The response to others' suffering should always be compassion {to suffer with} as we continually point to the God of all comfort.

The last few years, I have really grown to appreciate hymns. I love reading the stories associated with them. I love the unwavering theological truths contained therein. I love that no matter what, there is the message of hope. When things well up and seem so hopeless, when things are seemingly beyond repair, there is hope.

Hope that things will be made right, whole again. 

And that is our promise to which we cling. In this world there will be trouble, but He has overcome this world. Things will be made right. 

By and by, when the morning comes, 

When the saints of God are gathered home, 

We'll tell the story how we've overcome, 

For we'll understand it better by and by.