I sat across a table listened to her share her horrific, childhood-stealing moments of her life. Her words, spoken clearly, as though recounting every detail in her mind’s eye … as though walking through each and every event, as though a part of her was that awkward adolescent, hurting all over again.
After she recounted her story, for over two of the fastest moving hours of my life, she looked into my eyes and said, “thank-you for listening to my story. Next time, I want to hear yours, because I think you have a story to tell too.
I smiled, for she was right and because she knew what I know …
the pain in our own lives awakens our subconscious to the pain that others try to hide.
Recently I was watching a clip from the BBC’s A Royal Team Talk, and a statement by Prince William caught my full attention:
“It (bereavement) also brings you so close to all those other people out there who have been bereaved. So instantly, when you talk to someone else … You can almost see it in their eyes sometimes.”
As I digested his words, I realized that ‘bereavement’ could be replaced by the word ‘pain’ or ‘trauma’ … words that signify an injury, a mental or emotional bruising that can only be seen by eyes, by souls who recognize it … mirrored through their own lives and experiences.
Psalm 56:8 gives us insight into the understanding God has of our pain, trauma and grief:
“You number my wanderings.
You put my tears into your bottle.
Aren’t they in your book?”
Ellicott’s Commentary speaks of this verse:
“wandering, which, from the parallelism with “tears,” must mean “mental restlessness,” the “tossings to and fro of the mind,” “my inmost things.”
The pain a person carries is a most mentally restless scar … one that is worn, quite often, under a broad smile. It takes an understanding, a knowledge that such pain can, that it does exist for it to be seen beneath the bandage of a cosmetic smile.
It is quite amazing when another crosses our path, who really sees, who clearly sees what lies beneath the joy on our faces.
God sees … he sees the pain and grief because he knows pain and grief, because he has collected our tears, even the ones that never left our eyes.
itsawonderfilledlife 