Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament.
Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
Psalm 5:1-2
Lament...
Lamenting...
These words are popping up, every direction I turn.
Today, it seems, we have plenty to lament about. Grief for the losses we have suffered.
Regret for the relationships we can't seem to keep whole, no matter how hard we try.
Disappointment for the conversations we need to have, but can't.
They shout at me from my TV, and I read them in the words on my phone as I scroll through social media. As a women's ministry pastor, I hear them in the voices of the hurting.
My lament comes from my heart. It is not birthed out of our first-world problems or even first-world rights. It comes from you, my friends, and this time that we live in, navigating these waters together.
I lament today because I hear you, I see you and I carry these burdens with you.
I am brokenhearted today. My heart has been broken many days... specifically only the days where my mind allows my heart to "go there." It's much easier to keep my guard up. For me to build thicker walls. It's easier not to ask and it's easier to lean away rather than lean in.
My heart breaks for the labels. The same labels which we stand against and yet use in the very next sentence.
My heart breaks for the voices in the margins who are hushed by the megaphones of the privileged.
My heart breaks for the opinions that are shared, because, don't we have the right to share them? Yet, these words are spoken, often unfiltered, and only deepen the divide between us and the other.
My heart is broken that women - generation shapers - are harder on each other than our male-counterparts are on us. Broken because we are each other's worst critic, only after ourselves, of course.
My heart breaks that we proclaim the love of Jesus on our Pinterest boards or in our
Facebook posts, but that our flesh has the last world in the comment section.
My prayer for these times...
May I have a heart that is teachable, calm in the storm, cross-shaped.
May I have a spirit of meekness which shines as power and strength that is under control.
May my spirit be one that is gentle and loving, so that through every action, expression, movement of my body, thought in my mind and word spoken from my mouth not only glorify You, but also be a reflection to others of Christ in me.
May my actions prove, and may I be known, not for those things I stand for or stand against, but that I would be known as a humble servant who kneels.
Amen.
There is no lament we carry that can not be laid at the feet of the Lord. May you place your requests before Him and wait expectantly.