Present with the Pain

How might you invite someone to sit with you in the bigness of what you’re feeling?

Mark 14:37-38

When Jesus returned he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Asleep, Simon? Could you not stay awake for even an hour? Be on guard and pray that you not be put to the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

As Jesus intuited the severity of what was coming down the pike for him, he took his friends to a garden and wept in the quiet space, asking his buddies to simply stay awake with him as he mourned. And they couldn’t. They dozed off as their leader, their friend, their comrade lamented.

Whereas “wokeness” has been vilified in many current conversations, Jesus essentially told Peter, “stay woke.” Jesus called his companions to stay present with the pain and truth of what was happening in that moment. His admonishment to Peter recognized that the heaviness of “the world as it is” tires and exhausts the body, even as the spirit and soul are willing to engage.

In the midst of the heaviness of the world, with whom is the Spirit calling you to stay awake? May we work to be present to the specific harms and hurts of our friends and neighbors, sitting with them in solidarity.

Notice today how the people around you are in pain. Or maybe you’re the one hurting. How might you hear the call to stay awake? Or how might you invite someone to sit with you in the bigness of what you’re feeling?

—Candace Woods