This tale is about a man who endure much suffering and pain in his life from death and other calamities. During the first instance the village blacksmith, who many people in town did not know much about, comes to the man and is present with him. They cry together. They talk about the situation but most importantly the blacksmith is there. This relationship continues through the various situations that arise throughout the man's life. One day the man decides to visit a priest to try and make sense of the whole thing. After listening to the man's stories the priest tells the man that these things have happened to forge character in his life and that without these situations he would not be the man he is today. That evening as he is pondering the words of the priest the blacksmith stops by. The man tells the blacksmith what the priest had said and he tells the blacksmith that maybe he doesn't need to continue to stop by. The blacksmith replied that if the priests words were true, then he needed to stop by all the more because of the great misfortune that his life had turned out to be. The two men enjoyed each others company the rest of the evening as they shared life together.
This tale talks about the importance of presence in the time of suffering and not answers. I believe this is a much needed lesson for the church today. Too often we want to say the right words to make the situation better or to bring clarity, but we often wind up making things worse. We spew bad theology in favor of platitudes. We shortchange the person of the thing they need the most, community. Just to know that someone is walking with you through a difficult situation means way more than having the right answer.
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