I can think of many things throughout my life that were really tough to watch.  Watching my children get hurt, watching a loved one go home to heaven, watching the news and seeing the horrors of war, the tragedies, poverty, suffering, and so much more.  All of us can think of things that we have had to suffer through, but, boy, were they tough to watch.

As I was praying this morning and presenting a present situation which is ‘tough to watch’ to God, I had a thought.  All of a sudden I thought of how many times God says ‘This is really tough to watch’.  How much of what he sees, of what we do, of how we treat each other, of how we turn from his love is ‘tough for him to watch’?  Knowing and seeing all eternity at once, watching the children he loves so much walk away from him time and time again and head for distruction, suffering and death must be so tough to watch.  And yet, our freedom is preserved and just like the Father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son he keeps his watch from afar, hoping that we will head down the road back to his open arms.   

When we love much, we suffer much.  Our world is filled with stuff that is really ‘tough to watch’.  But we know that there is hope and there is the Resurrection.  Let us put our heads on his shoulder and be comforted by his presence as we face that is really ‘tough to watch’.