We have a guest contributor. For the 6 year old philosophers, Walter, and me this is great. We are heading down the home stretch and this wonderful contribution gives us a needed rest. We have a lot of ground to cover in these last weeks. Enjoy!
“Just Being There”
In a “First Person” article, a lawyer recounted being asked after a lecture what his most important achievement had been. He told the audience about a legal victory, yet the true answer, he wrote, was “just being there” with a childhood friend and his wife as they mourned the death of their infant child.
Logic told the lawyer that there was nothing he could do to help at the hospital. He had no expertise in medicine or counseling to share. His friend was surrounded by family and thus certainly had love and moral support. The only reason why the lawyer was there was no other way existed to return the car keys his friend had left at the tennis court where they had been playing until family unexpectedly arrived to rush him to the hospital.
The lawyer arrived at the hospital just as his friend was telling waiting family that his son had died. The distraught father saw the lawyer and invited him to join his wife as they said goodbye to their son. Few words were exchanged, yet as they left the friend thanked the lawyer for “just being there.”
I have pondered this story for more than a decade from different angles. Today I am struck that perhaps the most important aspect of Christ dwelling within us is the comfort of the Spirit “just being there.” How reassuring this presence of love, compassion, guidance, forgiveness, and hope is.
Help me, Lord, to acknowledge and give thanks for your presence and to practice “just being there” for others.
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