What specifically can you say and do today to provide your spouse the sympathy he or she needs during times of pain?

No one comforts me. Lamentations 1:21

The preschoolers in Bible study were out on the playground when one little girl nicked her finger. It was a very minor injury, and one of the teachers tried to tell her that she wasn't hurt badly and that her finger would quit hurting soon. But the child didn't believe it, and she kept crying.

I (Teresa) picked up this little girl and started talking to her about her finger and how bad it must have hurt. I asked her if she wanted her mom, and she responded with an anxious, enthusiastic "Yes!" We talked about how she wanted her mommy until her mother came. Then the little girl was fine.

We are not often taught how to give sympathy, but we all need it. Sympathy has nothing to do with facts or reasons. Sympathy is talking to me about my pain. We adults can be just like the little girl with the nicked finger—we just want sympathy from the one we love.

There's really only one thing any of us wants to know when we're in pain, and that is, "Does anyone care?" And if there's no one there to care for us, the pain is worse. If someone is there but doesn't offer empathetic care, we are still not comforted in our pain.

Today's Scripture passage is a lot like our cry when we are alone in our hurt: "No one comforts me."

One of the potential benefits of marriage is the certainty that our spouses will provide sympathetic care when we are hurting. It's great to know that if we are hurting and the rest of the world looks on with indifference, our spouses will care and give us the sympathy we need.

What specifically can you do and say today to provide your spouse the sympathy he or she needs during times of pain?

Lord, thank You for Your compassion and for making marriage a source of care and compassion.