Separated
A mother sat anxiously in a waiting room outside a courtroom. Her teenage son was scheduled for sentencing. I was there serving coffee to those who waited that day. The lady approached me and asked where those who were to be sentenced would be. I told her they usually come in on the elevator and are escorted by officers the back way into the courtroom. She was disappointed that her son would not be sitting in the waiting room with her. I told her if she sat close to the elevator she could see him and have the opportunity to speak to him.
I saw a hopeful look each time the elevator doors opened. I saw disappointment each time those on the elevator weren't her son. Finally, about the fourth time the doors open, I saw her eyes light up and a big smile come on her face. The son, handcuffed and in shackles, saw her, smiled, and simply nodded his head at his mother. As soon as the son was escorted from the elevator down the hall, I saw the tears streaming silently down her face. Her heart was obviously breaking.
I always seem to try to put myself in the place of others. I tried to imagine how I would feel if that were my son and I was sitting there waiting to get a glance of him as he comes in on the elevator. Can you imagine your child being that close to you and not being able to even reach out and touch his hand, or comfort him in any way?
Of course, whatever crime had been committed separated him from his mother. Even though she had not committed a crime, she was really being punished as well as the son.
We sometimes are separated from those we love even when we do no wrong. But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother, there is a comforter who holds us as we feel our hearts breaking into.
This friend, this comforter, this son, once was sentenced and punished for crimes he didn't commit.
Think of Mary who had to sit and watch as they hung her son on the cross. She could do nothing to help him, nothing to save him. There was a separation between mother and son. She had done no wrong and in this case, the son who was being punished had done no wrong either. He was dying to save his mother and all of mankind. He was bridging the gap between God and man.
The Bible tells us that sin separates us from God. Jesus, the Son, died and made a way to close the gap of separation.
Today if you feel distant and separated from those you love, or from God who loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you, remember JESUS IS THE WAY.
He will hold you in his arms and comfort you when your heart is breaking. He will be a friend who listens and understands the hurts in a way no man can. He will forgive every wrong deed, every sin you have ever committed.
There is no sense in being broken-hearted, sitting alone, and separated when Jesus is waiting for you.