The Grace of Jesus in the Waiting

I'm an introvert who cries at commercials. Insurance commercials. Dog food commercials. Once, a mattress commercial got me. Nobody has ever explained why a mattress sale should require tissues, but there I sat, sniffling on the couch like a woman with a deep, personal connection to memory foam (which, actually, I am).

Over the years, I've gotten the message loud and clear that this is a problem.

"Toughen up."

"Don't be so sensitive."

"It's not that big a deal."

I've even said it to myself in the mirror: Pull it together, Dana. Nobody wants a leaky redhead.

So when I recently read John 11, it stopped me cold. Let me set the scene because it's one of the most dramatic in the Bible.

Lazarus is sick. His sisters, Mary and Martha, send word to Jesus with one of Scripture's most tender messages: "Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick" (John 11:3).