You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.
“Sorrow can go only as deep as love. And always, always, love is the ground beneath sorrow as well as the sky above it.”
Gregory Floyd
Some years ago I received a phone call asking for prayer for a young couple whose baby girl had been born without eyes just hours earlier. I distinctly recall my knees buckling when I heard the news. This lovely couple had already faced down years of infertility problems and multiple miscarriages. Everyone who knew them was overjoyed when this mom’s pregnancy went full term. Which made the news of their baby girl’s condition at her birth that much harder to bear. Sorrow shadowed my heart for days as I prayed for this dear family to sense God’s gentle hand of care upon their daughter and to continue seeking Him for what they would now be facing as parents of a special needs child.
When Hope Is Dashed
Like so many other moms of physically healthy children, I considered how I would have reacted to this same devastating news seconds after having given birth. My dreams, my desires, and my hopes, for that child would suddenly be dashed against the reality of a very different and uncertain future than the one I had nurtured for nine months. My heart ached at the thought. I sorrowed for this family and I wondered how they would get through these early days and weeks when the shock would be the most brutal to grasp and accept.
Slowly then, God began redirecting my thoughts along very different lines. He reminded me through verses I’d read over and over again through the years that He created this little girl perfectly (Psalm 139.) He wasn’t sitting in heaven wringing His hands in surprise and despair over her condition. Rather, God was celebrating the birth of another life carefully planned and designed by Him alone. A life that He would watch over, guard, protect, nurture, and rejoice.
God Reigns Over Everything
As that heavenly perspective started to take hold in my thoughts, God taught me once again that a good life by His standards often looks radically different than what man thinks is good. His way is always best, even when our hearts are breaking apart in sorrow, maybe especially then.
I’ve watched this little family add three more children to their numbers and time and again, I’ve been blessed, encouraged, and challenged by how God transformed a seemingly tragic event into something utterly beautiful. So much so, you’d have to see it to believe it. All because of love that sees past what most folks see.
Sorrow Is Common To All
When we realize we’ve hurt someone, we say we’re sorry. Hopefully, those aren’t just superficial words to mend a rift in a relationship. If we’re truly sorry for something, we feel regret and sorrow inside our hearts and minds. Yes, sorrow is the much deeper expression of simply feeling bad. Sorrow is that heart aching sick-to-my-stomach feeling we get when we hear terrible news or when something truly tragic happens to someone we love. Sadly, sorrow is part of this world and no one is immune from its pain.
With sorrow comes grief, sadness, and sometimes the death of dream, a relationship, or even a life. One of the aspects to sorrow that we frequently miss is that feeling sorrowful means we care. It means love is at the foundation of that emotion. If we love someone, we will naturally sorrow for him or her when they hurt. Sorrow is the right response in the face of tragedy. It is the appropriate emotion to feel and then harnessed to help make the situation better.
Love Is Demonstrated As We Sorrow With Others
Without sorrow, none of us would be moved to act for another. We would more resemble robots that process incoming data devoid of emotion. Instead, God gave us these emotions as part of His perfect design. He wants us to be moved by sorrow so that we step out and move toward others with help, hope, and healing. Sorrow…we may not like it but we can’t live without it.
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