Week of 3 Advent, Monday

While You Were Sleeping

We get a picture of real vulnerability in psalm 41 this morning. The psalmist complains that his enemies are plotting and spreading rumors:

"A deadly thing," they say, "has fastened on him;
he has taken to his bed and will never get up again." (Ps. 41:8)

Even his best friend is turning away from him, so it is only in the Lord that he finds solace, his integrity is rewarded, and he is set before the Lord's face (Ps. 41:12).

All of us have experienced a betrayal of some form, whether hurtful words from a colleague or fellow-student, harmful actions from someone we trusted, even a break-up that we didn't expect. At some level, as human beings, we simply have to learn that we will always be vulnerable, but we don't have to be destroyed when someone hurts us. Curling up into a ball won't work, but neither will stoic self-reliance -- we need to be in relationship, but not to load the full weight of our happiness onto the people around us.

Only the Lord can carry that load, but he also asks us to share it with him. We are called upon to "bear one another's burdens" (Gal. 6:2) in order to show each other and the world what protecting the vulnerable looks like.

We watched the movie "While you Were Sleeping" last night -- it's one of my favorite Christmas films. As Peter lies in the hospital bed in a coma, Lucy (who has dreamed about marrying him but never actually spoken to him) is mistakenly identified as his fiancee just as his family arrives. They embrace her and draw her into their Christmas celebration, a warm gathering of extended family that she doesn't have. Peter's godfather, Sol, eventually learns the truth about Lucy and says, "I won't let anyone hurt this family." She promises the same thing, even though it gets harder and harder to sustain the fiction.

God grant both that we will protect the vulnerable we meet, and that he will surround us with warmth and relationship that reflect his shining face.

P.S. God also grant that we won't have to put up with a goof like Joe Jr. (if you haven't seen the movie yet, watch for him!).