I clock a lot of hours on the bench at my kid’s gymnastics studio. Not surprisingly, I hear more conversations than I would like to. I’m not nosy, but I am female, so even though I try not to eavesdrop, sometimes it’s difficult to close my ears.
I’ve seen a lot of single dads at the gym lately. You can always tell when there are drop offs between a tense mom and dad, usually in the middle of a divorce, and the gym is their neutral turnover zone.
Bags are exchanged. Homework explained. Guilt-trips are delicately laced with instructions.
Little kids wave goodbye to mommy or daddy and try and put on a brave face before their peers and coach. Little tears escape, brushed away in an effort to be a “big girl.”
Shoulders are slumped. Sadness exudes. Defeat hangs like a dense fog.
I notice an air of confusion on many of the recently single parents. It’s as if they wear a large sticker on their forehead reading “Why didn’t this divorce make me happier?”
One of these sad guys plopped himself down next to me the other day. He looked well put together, effortlessly stylish –clearly he had money and confidence –and yet something was wanting.
Another man walked by and inquired how he was doing –and out the story spilled.
His wife left him for another man. But not just any man –it was his best friend. She is demanding $10k a month for her expenses. She also left him with her daughter whom he was now raising. They were married all of thirteen months.
Through his anger and liberal use of f-bombs, I heard heart-wrenching and desperately raw pain.
I tried to fade into the wall. I didn’t want to hear it. It brought back emotions and days I don’t want to remember.
I watched his little girl do a handstand and wave and blow kisses, trying to make him smile. She could tell her daddy was hurting.
And it reminded me how every person I meet has a story.
That even the uber-attractive and wealthy folks pulling out of the kiddie gym in a Ferrari are often dying on the inside.
EVERY interaction and EVERY encounter I make is important to someone. Each day I have the opportunity to bring life or death, joy or pain, comfort or more sorrow to an already suffering soul.
I was recently told by a pharmaceutical rep that our CVS Pharmacy in Ladera Ranch has the highest revenue in the nation of prescription anti-depressants.
This means my community of beautiful wisteria clad homes, hard bodies, families with 2.3 kids, and happy smiley faces is secretly drowning in a disease of sorrow hidden behind image management.
I tried not to be intrusive, but as I left, I looked the man in the eye and acknowledged his pain. He weakly smiled back and went on his way.
And I am brought to my knees, crying out to God for this hurting man, for my hurting community, and for a world where hope is holding on by a thin thread.
If you are one of those struggling today, please let me encourage you to hold on. Reach out and let someone know you need help. You can’t do life alone. We need each other. We need Jesus with skin on. We need people.
God reveals himself and comforts us through those who have walked in our shoes and previously traveled down the dark roads.
You aren’t alone.
Hang on my friends. Hang on…
–Samantha
