The noise is intense, the cries and yelling, the pain and the sorrow. a visit to the Emergency Room has it all. Broken bones and runny noses, police and paramedics, you can find it there at the ER, including me and my son.
It doesn't matter what brings you into a place like this, the experience threatens all our preconceived notions of infallibility and strength. But today, I'm just a spectator. Talking to strangers and sharing stories and laughs and tears.
It's what you are reminded of when you step into this kind of a space.
Frailty. We are all frail, each one of us.
Broken, sick, lost and yes, the body we inhabit is frail. So very frail.
From a young age we can find ourselves in places of vulnerability and brokenness. Like the little boy crying out to his daddy that he can't open his eyes, they hurt so bad, we are young - we really are, in light of the eternal existence we were all meant for. And just like that little boy we have a Father that we can cry out to. Unlike that little boy, we often don't.
Even with these frail bodies, minds fraught with brokenness, we would be more inclined to do it all by ourselves, mend our brokenness, heal our pain, cure our frailty.
But we can't do it on our own, mend ourselves or heal our own pain. Our frailty can't be cured by an act of our own will.
The wise sage of Ecclesiastes tells us all about our brokenness and harsh condition:
"What do people get from all the toil and anxious striving with which they labour under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest." Ecclesiastes 2:22-23a
The same sage that wrote of the grief and pain of the work of life...the living and restless nights, also focuses on the answer. The answer is a Fear of the Lord.
"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this the whole duty of man." Ecclesiastes 12:13
Paul writes to the church in Corinth and expresses the sage's wisdom, "so whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). He goes on to reflect further, "be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). This idea of imitation - of walking in the same way and pace, keeping step with and reflecting the one you follow after. We are to be as Jesus.
It certainly sounds like a real, humble and intimate relationship with the Father in heaven through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
In Jesus we find ourselves able to face the brokenness, pain and frailty. In Jesus we have been given the strength, the power, to follow him - to see us mend, heal and we find the cure that is eternal - him.
Our frailty has but one cure, his name is Jesus and in him we find hope.
Wherever you find yourself, whether you are sitting in an ER, in the loneliness of your car or the brokenness of a relationship that won't mend. There is hope in the love and grace of God through Jesus' work. It's that old and well remembered Sunday school memory verses in John 3:16-17,
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
Our frailty has but one cure, his name is Jesus and in him we find hope.
There is hope, even in our frailty.
Trust in him. Trust in Jesus.