I read a wonderful account of a little boy who went into his neighbour’s backyard and sat on the old man’s lap because he was sitting there crying, having just lost his wife. Later, when the child returned home, his mother asked him what he’d said to the old man, and the child replied, ‘Nothing, I just helped him cry.’
I guess that’s what the Bible means when it talks about ‘bearing each other’s burdens and weeping with those who weep.’ Human beings have a remarkable capacity to cope with life’s sadness when they have someone who will stand with them. One line of a popular modern hymn says, ‘I will hold the Christ light for you in the night-time of your fear.’ There are few things better able to summon up hope than the presence of a silent and caring friend.