Moved To Tears

I’m not a weepy guy but last night I found myself sitting in a movie theater sobbing like a baby. It was an important story of a regular family with a dying child and I related to the parents within the first five minutes. It was not written in a way to play on the audiences emotions, it was just a solid true story of what we are like when we face the death of a child.

I could feel my wife sobbing beside me and I knew she could feel me as well, I just hoped that no one else in the theater knew, or perhaps they were busy with their own tears.

At the end of the movie I felt emotionally drained but encouraged by their testimony. As the lights came on I smiled at my wife, loving her red, puffy eyes. I hoped that I didn’t look like she did but she lovingly assured me I did. As we stood to file out I expected to see other red eyes but there were none. The comments I heard were “That was a cute movie”.

Have we become so calloused that we are not provoked to compassion by a suffering child and the family that sacrifices and suffers to see her healed? Are we so calloused that we are not moved to the core of our being by the sight of a mom on her knees, desperately reaching out to God in her renewed faith? Are we no longer moved when we see a mom give up her anger at God and turn to him in faith because she loves her daughter too much to hold on to selfish emotions? Have we grown so cold that we are no longer moved when one dying child shares the strength of her faith and trust in Jesus with another dying child?

There were too many honest moments in this testimony to share with you but I would hope that if you find yourself in a movie theater watching it, your compassion and tenderness would be enough to see you moved to tears. And may this compassion then translate to the people of our lives. The love of Jesus for us should fill us with compassion for others.