Absorption Rate

The rate of absorption refers to how quickly something is taken into a substance or a system. With pharmaceuticals, it might mean how fast a medicine is absorbed into the bloodstream. The weather might suggest the soil’s ability to absorb rainfall at a specific rate over a given period. Of course, too much rainfall can lead to flash flooding as the soil cannot contain the water.

Just as the soil can only take in so much rain before it floods, our hearts and lives can only hold so much pain before it feels overwhelming. Some trials we “absorb” slowly and learn from—like a steady rain that nourishes the ground. But when pain pours into our lives like a storm, it can exceed what we can contain, spilling over into discouragement, anger, or despair.

In the book of Lamentations, the writer confesses, “Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief.” The prophet doesn’t hold back—his sorrow is so great it pours out like an unending stream. It shows us that grief isn’t something we can always neatly contain. Just like a rain-soaked field, sometimes the tears overflow. In such times, our lives are flooded with a deep pain that will not let up, that saturates our souls, dampens our spirits, and creates a heaviness in our hearts that weighs us down.

At times such as these, where does our relief come from? When our lives are saturated with deep sadness and we feel buried in the mire of despair, where is our hope? In this same chapter, the writer of Lamentation, even in the despair of the moment, would faithfully announce, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

For the writer of Lamentations, memory would be the anchor in the floodwaters of their tears. They would recall the witness of God’s love over and over in life. God’s great love has never failed, and God’s faithfulness is new every morning like the rising of the sun. When we are drowning in grief or burdened by pain, memory can be our anchor, too. We remember how God has carried us before. We recall the promises of Scripture. We trust that even when tears fall without relief, God’s mercy greets us with each new day.

So, when we feel as though we cannot absorb any more pain into our lives, we must first name our pain. We must acknowledge the pain and sorrow that have flooded the landscape of our lives. Second, hold fast to memory. Call to mind times when God has shown up for us—or for others we know. Finally, we must trust tomorrow’s sunrise. No matter how long the night, God’s mercies are waiting in the morning light.