Friend Dumped

³⁵ Jesus wept.
John 11:35 (ESV)

Ever had a friend just decide that they don't want to be friends anymore?  They may blow up at you, they may tell you they don't have time for you, or just fade away out of your life and start ignoring you.  I looked for verses in the Bible that dealt with this, and one was the "shortest verse in the Bible".  Jesus wept.

At first I was like, that doesn't apply.  He was crying because Lazarus was dead.  He was grieving over the loss of a friend who had died.  And yet, he knew what he was going to do.  He knew that Lazarus would be alive again.  Yet he still wept.  He still grieved.  And so the lesson to me here was, even when it seems silly - even when it seems like a pointless gesture - sometimes you have to grieve, because that is how you feel.  Jesus wasn't crying because he would never see his friend again.  He was crying because he was sad.  He had suffered a loss.

Sometimes, you just gotta grieve.

Every time someone walks out of my life, it is intensely painful to me.  I do not handle rejection well.  I always internalize it and endlessly examine what I might have done wrong to make someone not want to be my friend anymore.  One of the things I have learned through swing dancing is that rejection is not about you - it's about them.  There can be a lot of reasons for rejection.  Whatever the issue - it's not yours.

If a relationship is worth saving, someone will go through the effort of explaining their issue with you and resolving it.  If they aren't willing to put in the effort, then they're not the friend you thought they were.  That doesn't mean they're not worth the effort though.

Our society puts a lot of emphasis on cutting and running when things get tough.  Movies tell us everything should have a happy ending.  TV shows tell us that if a relationship is bumpy, it's better to break up - if a marriage isn't working, get a divorce.  Any relationship takes two people.  If one is done, there is nothing you can do.

So you must move on.  And weep.


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Take Comfort in God

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come
to you.

John 14:18 (KJV)

Today's verse was inspired by Grace Day, who is dealing with a breakup. As I searched for words of comfort on these Internets, I found the above verse. The verse is about Jesus coming back after His death. It speaks to me of more however. Not just of His second coming, but of the fact that he is always with us. We can turn to Him and He will comfort us.

In those times when you're feeling lonely, rejected, sad, as if no one cared for you - remember that God does care for you. God will not leave you comfortless. He will come to you. These are words of hope when we are down and at our worse. God loves us. He died on the cross for our sins. Nothing and no one is beneath His notice. When you are sad He is there with you. He has nowhere else more important to be.

Today's picture is entitled "Rain on a Rose". I chose it because it depicts to me sadness and hope in the same picture. The rain drops are like tears on the petals. The black and white colors make this a stark and lonely picture. And yet at the same time the rose is white, full of light and hopeful. The rain does not take anything away from the rose. In fact it enhances its beauty. Soon it will dry in the rays of the sun and the rain drops will be but a memory...

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