by Brandon Jubar

Comforting Words

I think it was about 10:30pm when we first heard him crying. I was sitting at my computer, writing an article, and Gina was working on her machine right behind me. The house was finally quiet and we were both trying to quickly finish a few things in what was to be a futile attempt at getting to bed at a reasonable hour.

Our four-year old son, Kaleb, had come down with a fever earlier in the evening. But judging by the sound of his crying and gagging, it had developed into something more.

Gina realized what was happening sooner than I and was able to reach the top of the stairs in a matter of seconds. The events of the few minutes following were not as bad as they could have been, but I will refrain from going into detail here. Suffice it to say that dinner was significantly more appetizing the first time around!

Gina and I spent most of the next few hours tending to our suffering son. It was a terrible feeling -- holding him, trying to comfort him, yet knowing that our words and caresses had little or no effect on his fever. There I was, the big strong father, completely powerless to help my child.

Doesn't that happen quite a bit throughout our lives, though? To some degree, we have all been in situations where we wanted so badly to help, to comfort, to console -- and yet there was nothing we could say or do to make things better. Whether it was a friend or family member, we've all been there.

But are our words worthless in those situations? Do they mean nothing at all?

Hardly. Perhaps we need to recognize that our words can't possibly fix everything, but they CAN make a difference. Our words truly can comfort and console, provided that we speak with honesty, straight from the heart.

In retrospect, though our words did not make Kaleb's fever go away, Gina and I were able to calm him. We were able to settle his mind, ease his fear, and support his belief that he was going to get better eventually.

Knowing that we are capable of having that effect, is there any reason not to reach out to those in pain and share a few comforting words?

I didn't think so.

Peace,
~Brandon

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bjubar@ParishWebmaster.com

Copyright 2002 by Brandon Jubar
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