masking & unveiling

It doesn't take you a long visit at cnn.com to realize that the world is groaning under the weight of bad news. Shootings here, bombings there, destruction and destitute behavior all around. You read the stories of the victims and wonder how a heart can hold it all.

Of course, there is good news, too – personal stories of growth, change, renewal and victory – moments that fill you to overflowing in a good way, with a kind of joy you can taste and touch and see.

Between the bad news death of my brother in November and the good news birth of my daughter this week, my emotions have been stretched further than they've been asked to stretch in awhile. My head and my chest have been strapped to a pendulum, swinging back and forth between the anxiety of expectation and grief and a heady kind of happiness. I've been running at soul capacity.

So today, when I received a message that a dear friend tested positive for lymphoma, I did not have a place to put the news. My fear and hope and love simply spilled out in my lap and ran rivers back to God in stupid, stammering prayers. My friend will likely be better for it.