Thursday, March 27, 2025
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Written by Rev. Leah Quarles | Associate Pastor
Some things can only be understood once you go through them personally. We can try our best to listen and empathize with what we hear. We can compare them to similar situations in our own lives, but it isn’t until we go through it ourselves, we gain a deeper understanding.
When you learn to fly, you start with ground school first to understand aviation concepts – but it isn’t until you’re in the pilot’s seat, pulling back on the yoke, and watching the ground get further away, you don’t understand what it’s really like to fly. How many pre-teens have told you how to drive? Or who described “the best cookie” ever but you never got to taste it?
The same goes for struggles and grief - we don’t understand until we go through it ourselves. In the same way, we understand more deeply God’s ability to console us during affliction - even when it makes no sense why you feel comforted outside of God’s presence. But once we’ve experienced a “peace that surpasses all understanding” and the comfort that comes in the form of a meal, or a text to check in, we now count ourselves in the group of those ‘who know.’ Of those who know what someone might need because you’ve gone through it too. So, you thank God for bringing you through the waters and the fires safely and you seek to be God’s consoling presence for those who need it next.
Prayer: Connect us, O Lord, with those who need a word of encouragement, that we might share life-giving words with them. Amen.