As a chaplain, I not only counsel soldiers, but also others who work with the military. During a training time in Texas, I regularly greeted a cheerful worker in the dining facility. One day, she asked if we could talk. We sat down at a nearby table and she broke down in tears. You’ll never guess why… She had hit a bird with her car!
I tried to empathize with her, but have rarely known one to be so inconsolable over the accidental killing of a bird (especially at an Army facility!). But before I knew it, she started pouring out her heart about her broken family. It wasn’t about the bird after all. From that point forward I could see that for many of the military personnel I helped, it was about much more than “the bird.”
Behind our tears, there is a deep well of thoughts and emotions that we ourselves barely understand. Yet our all- knowing God created that deep well and knows it better than we do. The anxious thoughts in our hearts can be laid before Him. And we can be sure He will lead us and comfort us.