Venting

Sometimes people need to vent.  The emotions within have overwhelmed everything else, spilling over with a passion and intensity that is difficult to miss.  Nobody appears immune!  Politicians, businessmen and women, and individuals struggle to deal with the normal everyday events in life.  When you add to the mix the pressure of achieving goals, feeling aggrieved, or being used, you have a volatile mixture.  It spills over in road rage, angry discourse, and extended conversations that are each in their own way a cry of anger and frustration. 
Candidly, I am not immune.  You and I have stories in our lives that we need to share with those close to our hearts.  We want to tell them of our pain and fear.  We want to share our unknowns, longing to feel the optimism we assume must be found in others.  We want to know that we are not alone, that others care to walk the journey with us.  The emotions are, in and of themselves, not a sign of weakness.  They are telltales of what it means to be alive.  We are creatures of community and family.  The dark nights of our souls extract a price that overwhelms even the strongest.
Every generation has struggled with challenge.  The process has remained constant across the generations.  In times past, “they took him into the room where Tabitha's body was laid out.  Her old friends, most of them widows, were in the room mourning.  They showed Peter pieces of clothing the Gazelle had made while she was with them.”  (Acts 9.39)  Metaphorically, we do the same thing today.
I find that others, as well as my soul, need the same response as Peter gave.  We need another to stop, listen, and “be” with us.  Yesterday several did that for me.  In my fear, I find myself stronger.  In my uncertainty, I find peace coming into my heart.  Even as I walk alone, I know others are with me.  I am filled with wonder and awe.
I am not alone.  In sharing the journey, we experience the living's heart.