In the heart of a North Dakota winter, the bitter cold takes away ones breath from the moment one steps outside. The rawness of the cold is felt in every fiber of ones being. That rawness is a rawness that I haven’t felt anywhere else. It can easily paralyze one from going outside during the winter months. So I know the rawness of a ND winter very deeply, yet that is not the rawness that is penetrating my heart and soul in these days.
I watch the children in an orphanage in Aleppo crying for help and my heart breaks. I want so deeply for them to be able to play outside without fearing for their lives. I am filled with the rawness of tears as they trickle down my face. I yearn for these children and their families safety.
I am filled with the rawness of cold as I hear stories of homelessness in these frigid temperatures. Babies, parents, and children who are living in the streets. More tears trickle down my face.
My heart is raw as I want to do so much more for those in need. My throat is sore as I try to cry out in the midst of my tears. Raw tears that weep for Syria. Raw tears that weep for my Muslim and Jewish friends. Raw tears that weep for every black and brown body that have been killed because of the color of their skin. Raw tears that weep along with my friends and all those in the LGBTQ community. Raw tears that weep because we are afraid to shut up and listen to each other. Raw tears that yearn so deeply for peace, justice, mercy and kindness in this broken shattered world.
Like a ND bitter cold day, the world is raw with her own brokenness and her own tears. Tears that call for the birth of Emmanuel; who cries out into the silence of the night. Tears that call forth hope in God with us. Tears, who are raw, with love for all of God’s beloved children.
A raw love, born into the silence of the night, in a manger in Bethlehem, through one of the first refugee families; Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. This raw love that is a love like no other; a raw love that is steadfast, faithful and breaks forth into our broken shattered world.