The Daily: Monday April 27, 2026

“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?” Jeremiah 8:22

Trained in Calm

We’ve been trained to remain calm (or at least appear to), but what does that really cost us?

The majority of us have been trained to be calm. Most of us are very good at controlling our own grief as well as managing others'. The skills involved in maintaining composure while working and appearing capable are helpful. They allow us to perform daily tasks; they enable us to show up. But, Jesus meets us at the mountain and proclaims one thing that will tear right through all of that: Blessed are those who mourn.

Not blessed are those who are able to maintain control over their emotions. Not blessed are those who process their grief quickly and move on. Blessed are those who mourn – in the present tense, actively, truthfully.

In order to receive what Jesus is proclaiming in this beatitude we need to wrestle with an uncomfortable thought first: “What have we trained ourselves not to feel?” Avoidance is part of our biological makeup. When we burn our hands on a hot stove we pull them back. Emotional pain functions similarly. We create highly developed, mostly unconsciously, ways to avoid feelings that may be difficult for us to confront. We deaden or block out our grief. We work through it. We scroll through it. We bully our way around it.

This week’s invitation is not about creating sadness artificially. Rather, the invitation is to simply acknowledge (with gentleness) areas of your life in which you have trained yourself to maintain calmness even though an area of you needs to grieve.

Reflection Question
Where in your life have you become so practiced at holding it together that you've forgotten what you're actually holding?

Prayer 
God, you are not frightened by my pain. Help me stop pretending that I am not frightened by it either. Give me courage today to notice what I have been trained to look away from. Amen.