Daily Lesson for August 19, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Job chapter 2 verses 11 through the 13:

11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

"And no one spoke a word to him."

Sometimes the appropriate response to suffering is absolute silence. 

Words mean so much to us and it is those who are adept with words who rise as leaders.  It is primordial for us to want to speak and receive words. The whole world was created with a word and we are wont to try to use words to create our own worlds. Words have power.

But sometimes words are not enough. Or perhaps sometimes they are too much. Sometimes we come to the end of words.

Today, a child I know is back in the hospital for the second time this week and perhaps the 50th time in the last three years. Today, a friend will again not be able to return to work because of the ongoing effects of a traumatic event years ago. Today, a parishioner will get word about the cancer cells no longer responding to the treatment. Today, a seemingly-strong marriage will be shown to have unraveled over the last year. Today, a mother will have to choose to shut the door on her daughter in order to save herself and the rest of the family.

What do you say, really?  Words fail.  At times like these, the only power words have is destructive and not constructive. At times like these, words are not the answer.

I read sometime back a reflection the Quaker spiritual writer Parker Palmer wrote on a time of deep depression he entered into. The depression was literally numbing. For months he could feel nothing in his body except some small sensation in his feet. A friend from the local Quaker society, a gentle and humble man, learned about Parker's paralysis and asked him if it would be okay if he came by once a day and just massaged his feet. Parker, in a sign of deep trust, said yes and for weeks the friend came daily and simply gently massaged Parker's feet and ankles.  He said nothing.  He did not need to say anything. He did not need to give his words. He needed to give what Parker was open to receiving -- his gentle touch and his simple presence. These things were enough.  These things said everything.

There are times when words really do fail. But more times than not they fail not because they are too small but because they are too much. 

"And they sat with Job on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him."