Mourn With Those Who Mourn

*I am forgoing my regular Monday post this week. My heart has been heavy with what I'm going to share in this post. As such, I felt led to skip the post for this week and will bring it back next week.*

Well, the title the last half of Romans 12:15 in the NIV translation:

"...mourn with those who mourn."

I personally like the NASB translation:

"...and weep with those who weep."

Though, I will say that for once I like how The Message puts it in plain English:

"...share tears when [your friends] are down."

I share the different translations of this verse because my heart has been heavy. So very heavy that, though my friends who are struggling with the reason I shed tears are at least 5 hours away, I have been sad, shedding tears, and fervently praying that God would hear their cries. And sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy for feeling this way over a situation that I have never been through, but then I'm reminded by scripture that we are supposed to enter into our friends pain just as much, if not more so, their joys.

And so I have allowed myself to mourn for my friends who are battling the tough, no-known-end road of infertility. I have found my heart screaming out to God, begging that He might work a miracle in favor of their deep desires to be a Mommy. I have wished I lived closer to each one so that I could just be there for them, listen to them vent whatever emotions they are feeling, which may very well be anger or jealousy of friends who aren't walking that road, cry with them if they are needing to cry from the sorrow the painful journey brings, because even though I cannot understand, I most certainly am able to let them find a healthy outlet for their emotions in being their friend and listening ear, as well as do my best to empathize with them. 

The word empathy is defined by Merriam-Webster as follows:

1. the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2. the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this

After reading that definition, it clearly describes what Romans 12:15 calls us to do. For anyone, in any situation.

*sigh*

I'm sort of speechless...wordless.

My heart just hurts. I fervently hope for those who are battling the road of infertility to see an end of it with the miracle of a child.

I share this because I think we all need to be sensitive to where those around us are in life.

Are they hurting? Mourn with them. Comfort them if the situation calls for it, but know that sometimes, many times comfort comes most through a hug or shared tears.

Are they joyful? Enter into their joy with them, even if you are battling feelings of jealousy or covetousness because of whatever is bringing them joy.

Are they angry? Allow them to feel that anger, to wade through it so that they can dig into the hurt that is causing the anger

Whatever they are feeling, enter into it with them.

That is being a friend.