Just Be There

Job’s three friends were a comfort to him for a full week. They were silent, but there (2:13). When they spoke, they were “worthless physicians” (13:4) and “miserable comforters” (16:2).

A little girl was “adopted” as a grandchild by a couple next door. The wife died; the girl went next door and sat outside with the old man for a couple of hours. When she came home, her mother asked, “What did you say to him?” “Nothing,” she said. “I just sat with him and helped him cry.”

When death or other tragedies occur, often there are no appropriate words to say. To be of genuine comfort, just be there.

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