A thought...

I'm reading a devotional on Job, and something strikes me: I've generally considered myself a conscious comforter...someone whose first instinct is not to give a solution, but to give a hug.

But I've noticed, in myself and in others, that I don't always project the image of somebody who needs comfort and encouragement. A friend told me recently, while I was almost at breaking point, that all my statements seemed matter-of-fact...I sounded so normal as I described my plight that I didn't seem like I was actually in need. Consequently, some of the people around me, people who I count on to care for me, didn't know I was troubled. Our burden-bearing became one-sided, and I found myself frustrated.

We've worked through those communications problems, but I'm still left to wonder...sometimes I feel like I'm more emotional than others (what I write here is probably a testament to that!), and I do find myself being rather transparent at times. But is it the lesser emotions, the minor hurts and worries and frustrations...are those ones that I just appear to be on top of?

And is that why I don't appear to be in need in so many of the times when I'm longing for a good friend to be by my side?