Wailing Women of the Woods

She screamed and screamed and screamed.

I thought it was part of my dream at first, somebody yelling at me from the back of a restaurant. But the dream ended and the screaming continued… again, and again, and again!

I’d heard the sound before, but just twice, late at night, coming from the dark woods behind my house. Those times I'd heard just a couple of short blasts of sound, and wondered to myself what type of bird (I assumed!) could possibly be making that noise.

But in the pre-dawn hours of this morning it kept on and on and on… loud enough to wake everyone in the house, I was sure. Gradually the sound lessened as the animal moved further away. Finally I heard it no more.

“Wow!” I thought to myself. “What on earth was that?” I went online this morning to find out. After typing, “What animal is screaming behind my house at night?” into the search bar, I listened to the sound clips of various animals that were listed as possibilities.

I scoffed to see “red fox” on the list. Foxes surely don’t scream, do they? But when I clicked on the clip, I recognized it immediately as the sound I’d heard.

Fascinating! I love the thought of a burgeoning fox population in my neck of the woods, although I am less than enthused about being jerked awake by their vocalizations so early in the morning!

But what did it mean? Usually when I’m so taken by something in nature that I’ve witnessed recently it’s because God has something to show me. I went to Him and asked. His response? “She’s the wailing woman of the woods.”

If you’re reading this today, it’s because you and I know a little about wailing women. We’ve been one. Maybe your grief is fresh and you still are one. But both of us know what it means to release the anguish of our hearts before God.

Not all of us do it so loudly. Some do, of course, and that’s fine; everybody grieves differently. Some are very vocal in their pain, while others share it more silently but equally poignantly in social media posts that go on for weeks and months.  And others of us might be more private in our heartbreak, but yet feel it just as intensely.

The point is that our wails don’t have to be loud for God to hear them. He hears the silent cries of hearts that lie broken before Him. Amy Grant’s new song, “Beautiful Lone Companion” talks about Jesus keeping to the mountains and valleys, sleeping by rivers and streams, foraging for human pain.

What comfort there is to know that God is looking for those of us who are wailing in our own dark woods… a sound that perhaps only His heart can hear, calling for solace that only His Love can bring.

“In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears… He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.”

(Psalm 18:6,16 NIV)

 (Photo credit: Unsplash/DamianKwiatkowski)