One of my three flaws is that I like to complain. A lot. About things that can’t be changed. I like to think that it’s because as one of six children, my parents never had much tolerance for complaining, so now that I have a devoted boyfriend who hangs on my every word, I’m just getting it out of my system. What I love though, is when I tell Mike about something that I don’t want to do but I have to, he almost always responds with, “I’ll do it with you, in solidarity.”
I don’t want to get up at 5am and go to work.
–I’ll get up at 5 too, in solidarity.
I want to eat dinner but I can’t.
-I won’t eat dinner either, in solidarity.
I don’t want to clean my house.
-It’s not my mess, but I’ll clean it with you, in solidarity.
In solidarity. I didn’t even know what that really meant; it was just one of those phrases I’ve heard all my life. It’s a union. Unity. Loyalty. Allegiance. Out of shared sympathies. The act of sharing the feelings of another. Compassion. It’s not assuming that we understand, that we have the same problems, the same hurts, the same pains. But it’s recognizing that it happens to all of us. We’re all affected by ups and downs in our lives. To stand in solidarity is a commitment, to acknowledge the value of the problem and be there, because we’re all human.
Problems that I complain to Mike about are easily solved. I pull myself out of bed at 5, Mike texts me something funny, the day goes by and it’s over. It’s the problems that I don’t want to talk about that linger. The inner failings I’m embarrassed to share.
-I said I wouldn’t be rude to that coworker again but he slurped his coffee again at 7:23 and I told him exactly what I thought about it…
-I said I would pay my tithe regularly but there were just a lot of other things I wanted this week…
-I said I was going to fast but I didn’t even make it until lunch…
-I said I wouldn’t let myself get in that situation again but I did, I willfully went there and now I have to fix it…
Human solidarity can only go so far. There’s a limit to how much we can share, and how much another person, with all their weaknesses, can help us. But there is One whose solidarity is enough.
“We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality.
He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all- all but the sin.
So let’s walk right up to Him and get what He is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.” (Hebrews 4:15-16 MSG)
Fully God, fully human.
Fully understanding, fully sympathetic.
Fully available, fully willing.
Whatever you’ve failed at this week, whatever you need help with, whatever seems too overwhelming to handle alone, Christ is ready to stand with you, in solidarity, so that you can live in the black.
-lf