The Weekly Encourager - May 3, 2014 - Joy in the Morning/Mourning

The Weekly Encourager – May 3, 2014 – Joy in the Morning/Mourning

My friend was dying of cancer. Her niece remarked that it didn't seem right that Spring was blossoming at the same time that her dear aunt's body was decaying. I answered that Easter is a perfect time to die, because Spring is a picture of new life. If it were up to me, I would like to die on Good Friday!

Reading Psalm 30 just after Easter, I got a new insight into a familiar verse. "Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning." You hear this verse with reference to the troubles of this life. We go through a time of trial, then it finally ends and we praise the Lord. Yes, but, how about if we see "the night" as referring to the whole of our experience in this world?

Although God gives us moments of joy, this life is a vale of tears. For all who die in the Lord, because of Easter, joy comes in the morning! RESURRECTION! An end to suffering! The dawn! After an arduous journey with many battles and great pain, Frodo awakes in the house of Elrond, a place of golden light, the land of healing, a symbol of heaven.

The following poem by Henry van Dyke (1852-1933) beautifully paints another image for us.

I Am Standing Upon the Seashore

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying...

Death comes in its own time, in its own way.
Death is as unique as the individual experiencing it.

As our loved ones find joy in the morning, we can find joy in our mourning. Give thanks to the Lord in all things, singing, "Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing, Thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness; That my soul may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to Thee forever." - Psalm 30:11-12

God is faithful,