My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody.
(Psalm 57.7 NRSV)
Harold S. Kushner tells of an incident from his youth that made a distinct impression on him. A business associate of his father's died under particularly tragic circumstances. Kushner accompanied his father to the funeral. The man's widow and children were surrounded by clergy and psychiatrists trying to ease their grief and make them feel better. They knew all the right words, but nothing helped. They were beyond being comforted. The widow kept saying, "You're right, I know you're right, but it doesn't make any difference."

Then a man walked in, a big burly man in his eighties who was a legend in the toy and game industry. He had escaped from Russia as a youth after having been arrested and tortured by the czar's secret police. He had come to this country illiterate and penniless and had built up an immensely successful company. He was known as a hard bargainer, a ruthless competitor. Despite his success, he had never learned to read or write. He hired people to read his mail to him. The joke in the industry was that he could write a check for a million dollars, and the hardest part would be signing his name at the bottom. He had been sick recently, and his face and his walking showed it.

But he walked over to the widow and started to cry, and she cried with him, and you could feel the atmosphere in the room change. This man who had never read a book in his life spoke the language of the heart and held the key that opened the gates of solace where learned doctors and clergy could not.

God needs people like you who can speak the language of the heart.

Dear Jesus, help me to speak the language of your love and heart. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

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