Reassurance

This week, my neighbour went into hospital for brain surgery.  As required, the doctors had spoken to her about all the possible things that could go wrong, and she was fearful.  Anita and I visited her the night before the delicate operation and the conversation centred around my surgery and recovery.  I had had similar surgery over 10 years ago and there was something reassuring for my neighbour to know that I suffered few ill effects.

I had been down that road and it was ok.  Reassurance.

Yesterday, Anita and I attended the funeral of a 20 year old boy from one of our previous churches.  I cannot imagine the depth of grief within his parents and siblings.  We listened to the words and shared just a very small bit of their pain.  But we also heard his mother speak of her son's faith in Jesus.  We heard of Jesus' death and his conquest of death.

 
He had been down that road and it was ok.  Reassurance.

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Comments

[beth]

Sometimes, for some of us, we cannot speak or hold words of hope or reassurance for ourselves. I am deeply grateful for those people who have held hope for me in my moments of intense despair.
I was moved recently as I watched Andrew Denton interview a fragile and yet immeasurably resilient woman who has lived with bipolar disorder for years. She recounted an episode of severe affliction in which the auditory disturbance so distressed her that she ran manically in the street, screaming and babbling. She observed the distance between every other person on the busy street and herself, as she ended up sitting in a gutter. Alienated. Alone. Denton, with great compassion asked the woman the simple question. “What would you have liked someone to do?”
“I would have liked someone just to say “It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s going to be Ok.”
As the woman spoke these words I recognised the immense gift of hope that has been held out to me, often in my life. In the moments in which I have dangled on a thread over the abyss, against all reasonable evidence a voice that says “It will be all right” and by saying so, made it possible to become so. Hope. Reassurance.
The voice of hope, the voice of Jesus is not always easy to hear. Even for those who've heard it before. The Spirit bids us and gifts us to have a significant role in amplifying the voice of reassurance and hope to one another.
Sometimes people speak words of guilt, accusation and fault finding over me. God knows there's plenty of material to work with there - but loud as those voices are, I can shout criticism at myself louder than anyone, more willingly, with more detail and keep it going for hours without gatorade. And from a few decades of conversations I think I'm not alone. No, the words that make a difference are the words of reassurance and hope that we speak over and especially alongside one another.

[David Chatelier]

I'm so sad to report that my neighbour went into a coma and is still in that state a week later. I grieve for her husband and pray for her. It makes me reflect upon reassurance and hope that is a desire, and hope that is certain and secure. Hope based upon my experience can be no more than a possibility; hope based on Jesus is certain. Why? Because Jesus'experience wasn't just His experience; it was His experience for us and with us. By faith, Jesus'death and resurrection becomes my death and resurrection. This is the hope of which the author of Hebrews says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." (Hebrews 6:19)