Draw Near

I've a terrible memory but I once heard or read about a group of Navy Seals on a mission to rescue some POWs or hostages- someone being held and tortured. When they found them the people were huddled and hid their faces from their rescuers. They would not get up, possibly over disbelief of such a blessing and fear of reprisal from their captors. One of the seals took off his gear, curled up within them and assumed their posture, with the utmost compassion(something their guards would never have done). The victims, one by one, began to trust the interloper and were convinced of the truth in the rescue.

Our hurting brothers and sisters do not need how-to books, doctrinal diahrrea, or lofty prayers. Our people need hearts full of true love and compassion. The type of love that will take us to the streets, to the jungles, to the cess-pools, to the smoke-filled rooms where despair consumes its host.

I pray to be granted the wisdom to draw alongside those in despair. I pray for the strength to be impoverished and emptied of myself and filled to completeness with the Dance of the Trinity. I pray that somehow I am not a chord of cynism strangling the life out of hope, mercy, and all that is good.