"Go Ahead, Let it Out"
by Tom Goodman
February 14, 2007
Have you seen those new Kleenex commercials? Ingenious.
They set up a couch and a chair and a coffee table outdoors on city sidewalks, and real people sit down to have unrehearsed talks with this guy who’s just there to listen and empathize with them. As they talk about the birth of their child, or the loss of a loved one, or how tough life is, their eyes well up with tears and they reach for the Kleenex box in front of them.
But imagine you found a couch and chair on the corner of Sixth and Congress tomorrow. You sit down, and as you talk with the empathetic guy from the commercials, your own eyes well up with tears. But you’re not crying in sadness over a loved one’s death or in joy over the birth of a child. Instead, you’re mourning about the brokenness within you and around you.
"I’m sorry I’m crying," you say to the guy, "but I get this way when I think about the promises I haven’t kept, and the kindness that I have not shown, and the selfish choices that I’ve made. I get this way when I think about the unjust things that people do to each other. I get this way when I think about the families I know hurt by addiction or by abuse. I get this way every time I think about all the people who’ve walked away from God."
What do you think the Kleenex company would do with that? Your crying episode on that couch probably would not show up on one of their commercials! But Jesus said that God blesses anyone who gets to that point in his or her life. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn" (Matthew 5:4). When we’re broken-hearted over the brokenness within us and around us, Jesus says, "Well, now we can finally start getting somewhere. You’re at the starting point for a life of real happiness."
This is what we discovered on the first day of our four-Sunday study through Christ’s famous Beatitudes. If you missed it or want to review it, listen online. And join us this Sunday as we continue our study called "The Pursuit of Happiness" (9:30am or 10:45am).
—Tom
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