My friend invites me to sit
A gentle command breaking through my thoughts as I take notice of his familiar face.
With a plop on the curb we sit side by side,
I am not feeling particularly wordy but the company is undeniably special.
It's silent, very silent not very typical downtown Toronto.
We watch the sky as it takes on a bleak and murky nature revealing a predictable storm.
His face unexpectedly crumples as eyes mist over in tears.
Muttering pain, Confessing guilt, sputtering loneliness
yelling of the injustices covering his life, whispering self hatred.
Stating plainly his reality that I can do nothing about.
After the emotion has been spent he turns to me droopy shoulders, eyes of anguish.
Together we continue to look at the sky.
An intriguing peace covers our moment as we sit.
The pain seems to hang in the air, the ache is exposed, the honesty is clear.
I have no answers.
I wonder how this person could receive love in this stricken settled moment.
To my surprise what is brought to my mind in this pondering are memories recent and long ago.
Times where my own heart ache spills over in tears and pain,
times where I need my words to be heard regardless of their content,
times of my own unfiltered emotion,
my raw humanity in the open to another.
A beautiful identifying enters our time.
Our realities couldn't be more opposite,
however the simplicity of our common humanity could not be more similar.
Fixing is not what he needs, fixing is not what I need
Presence is what matters for him, presence is what matters for me
" No one has ever seen God, but if we love each other God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us." 1 John 4:12
I am invited to be that expression of love in the midst of another's pain, I am also invited to receive that expression of love in the midst of my pain.
You are amazing !
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