Look (again)

Welcome to Five Minute Friday.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking (harder than it sounds)
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments.

OK, are you ready? Come on and join the fun!

Anxiety weighs down the heart,
    but a kind word cheers it up.

Proverbs 12:25 (NIV)

 GO:

"You look fine"

"I didn't have any idea anything was going on."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Isn't that always the way. We wear our masks, hide our pain, holding it all together. Why do we do that, exactly? Is it our fear? Is it driven by a natural sense of competition, not wanting to seem weak and in need? Why is it that only when one of us confesses a trial in our lives, everybody suddenly "fesses up?"

"Oh yeah, I had that happen to me…"

" We struggled with the same thing…"

Aren't we, as a community of believers supposed to bear one another's burdens? How do we do that, exactly, when nobody appears to be carrying one? I'm a chief offender; I cope under remarkable circumstances. I'm not hiding anything, exactly, I'm just trying to keep it together. The lesson in love I've learned recently is when you let people in, behind the curtain, they show up, to the glory of God.

The next time you see someone, anyone, look again. Say a prayer. Prayer never hurts, and the balm you might lay over someone desperately in need might just be the Word that saves a life. Look again.

Can you remember what you looked like before you came to the place where you are now? Would you have wanted to be overlooked? Look again. At every person you meet. Every time. And offer a prayer.

I am so glad God sees it all, even when we aren't looking, or can't see. His clear vision is my blessed assurance. His clear vision is my reminder that God is good.

STOP:

On Fridays, I pray and play with LisaJo and Laura, and the Christian Mommy Bloggers