Sometimes I feel down because I don’t feel like I’m accomplishing much. I’m not doing enough or showing results for what I try to do. This morning, over breakfast at our local diner, my husband told me a story that reminded me that it’s not so much in the doing but in the being that can make a difference.
Marion Henderson, a well known preacher and much loved bible college professor at Lincoln Christian University and Florida Christian University, told this story in his famed Gethsemane lecture. He was twelve when his mother died. This was in the era when the body of the deceased was laid to rest in the front room of the family home, certainly a traumatic thing for a boy of twelve.
Sad and lonely, Marion wondered alone into the front room where his mother’s body lay. At that moment, his friend Toby stopped by. Toby entered the room, didn’t say anything, but just stood there with Marion.
“I never forgot it,” Marion told his classes year after year. Toby didn’t need to say anything. His mere presence provided the comfort Marion needed during that time of grief.
Maybe that’s why Jesus asked Peter, James and John to accompany him further into the garden where he wrestled with his anguish over the coming events of the next day – the brutal suffering and tortuous death he would endure. Jesus just needed someone with him, to stand with him, to share his grief, to pray and implore the God of the Universe in his behalf (Matthew 26:36-38).
Hallmark got it wrong. If we care enough to send the very best, we’ll send ourselves. We don’t have to do anything. Just be
Leave a Reply