enter in

"The way through brokenness is, and always has been, to break the sufferer free from the aloneness of the suffering by choosing to participate in the suffering with them - koinonia -  choosing to stand with the suffering, stay with the suffering, and let it all be shaped into meaning that transcends the suffering."  -Ann Voskamp

I love this quote because it shares how we should relate to others - others with depression, others with grief, others with pain.  Others.  We are not called to "cheer them up" or "look at the bright side," we are called to enter into their suffering, the way Christ entered into our world.  We are to sit with them in their sadness, sorrow, and hurt.  And that is when the true transformation, the true healing, of anyone's life happens - when we choose, out of love, to be present to the suffering of others.  "Greater love has no one than this; to lay down one's life for one's friends."  (Jn. 15:13) I think it is an act of love when we lie down our busy schedules, lie down our to-do list of thing that urgently need doing, lie down our lives and take the time to enter into someone else's brokenness and suffering.  That is truly the only way through brokenness to healing and wholeness.  For others, but also for ourselves.