A new set of eyes

One of the most beautiful parts of our journey of life center around the people we meet.  And I have found that EVERYONE has a story.  Lately, I am spending some time thinking about my approach to these life stories.  People are complicated creatures.  We have the amazing ability to endure crisis and keep moving forward.  Most of the time, no one would even know what we've experienced.  I have noticed there is a strange phenomenon surrounding our interactions.  I can't tell you how many times I've been at a store having a boring, normal exchange with a clerk and wanted to scream, "Do you see my scar?  Do you know how it got there?  Do you know that I can't go home and that I held my babies while witnessing nature's horror?"  You see, the great thing about physical wounds is that (with several exceptions) they heal.  And the weight you carry in your heart is not evident to those around you.  But, the emotional stuff...well, that is a different story.  That keeps bubbling up to the surface.  I drove into my subdivision last night to drop something off at the house.  As I was driving in, the thought hit me that all of the people in my neighborhood were home.  I'm sure that the storm three weeks ago is a distant memory for many of them.  Their lives have returned to normal.  And that just reinforced that ours hasn't.  We returned last night to our rental home.  We did our bedtime routine that is roughly three times longer than it ever was before.  And at about 1am, I had my first visitor.  B couldn't sleep.  He was scared.  So he climbed in bed with me.  B needed to talk a bit...to know he was safe.  So we transferred into his bed.  We slept for a bit and then Z came in.  "Mom, I don't want to bother you, but I'm really freaked out."  So, while I was taking him to the kitchen to get a drink, Noodle was on his way into our bedroom and I found him sleeping in my spot.  It turns out that Noodle was having a tornado nightmare (where I got hit on the head with a car, yikes!) and he was crying in his sleep and Z was trying to wake him up.  From 3am to 4am, Z, Noodle and I had a little therapy session.  They finally went to sleep and I went back to my bed.  B showed up shortly after.  Talk about musical beds.  I was thinking that it would have been funny to video our night, put it on fast-forward and watch all of us running around all night.
So, all of this leads me to the title of the blog.  This experience has caused me to look at my friends with new eyes.  I think about the pain they carry.  I think about the faithful way they continue in their walk with God.  I think of friends that have lost children, friends that have had miscarriages, friends that have lost their parents, or siblings,  friends that have had life-altering accidents, friends battling cancer, friends that have witnessed the horrific murder of their dear pastor.  There are so many people walking this road.  I now wonder if they feel sadness when they see other people blindly going on with their lives.  Does it get to them?  Do they ever want to scream, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?"  "DO YOU EVEN SEE ME?"  I remember when I was going through a Beth Moore Bible study called "The Patriarchs".  In Genesis 16 Abram's servant, Hagar, was hiding in the desert from Sarai.  Things were not going well for Hagar.  She unwittingly became part of Abram and Sarai's plan to get the promised descendants in their own way.  Because of their impatience, Hagar was now pregnant with Abram's baby and Sarai was jealous!  Who says the Bible is boring?  So, during one of Hagar's lowest points, an Angel of the Lord speaks to her to let her know that God sees her pain.  Hagar then gives God a name.   I am pretty sure she is the only chic in the Bible to ever give the Holy of Holies a name.  She calls him, "The God who sees me."  This is a huge turning point in her life and it impacted me greatly.  God sees us.  He sees our pain.  When the world is moving on and forgetting our story, God knows it deeply.  He cries with us and he holds us during the long frightening nights while the rest of the world sleeps.  He is the God who sees us.  That brings me comfort.  I hope it comforts my friends.  I know I am going to make a more concerted effort to honor the life stories of the people God has brought into my life.  My prayer is that I can encourage them and point them to the one that holds us as we carry the crosses we've been given.