Heavy Hearted?

Laughter can conceal a heavy heart; when the laughter ends, the grief remains. Proverbs14:13NLT

How do you conceal your heavy heart? Solomon suggests that laughter can do it. Others hide their heaviness in different ways, eg immerse yourself in family, study, sport, hobby, and the list could go on. In other words, we hide from the pain of our heavy heart and don’t face up to it. But why would we want to do that?

Before we jump to any conclusions, there will always be good reasons for hiding away from the source of the heaviness. The only reason you might not agree or see it, is because you haven’t had to face that particular heartache. I would also suggest that the root of the heaviness may not be a ‘thing’, but a person. It’s true that the one most likely to hurt, is the one that’s closest. Relationships from friendships to spouse testify to that truth.

Once we recognise the source of our emotional distress, for that is what it is, what then? What do we do? If I use my head, the answer is clear. Face the situation or person directly and have the difficult conversation to try to clear the air. Even then the end result might not be good. But then, if we approach this kind of issue from our heart, that hurts too, after all it is called heartache for good reason. The heart does not want that risky confrontation because you may be the catalyst or instrument to make things worse instead of better. Whatever we decide to do, we can’t win, so it remains a heartache, and we continue to be heavy hearted because the needed source of change can’t see it, or is not interested, because they don’t see the distress they are responsible for. In fact, sometimes their ‘answer’ will be uttered or voiced before the question is asked, or aired.

To answer before listening— that is folly and shame. Proverbs18:13NIV