Time for joy? A number of years ago I attended a funeral for an aunt who was well-loved, and I knew she would be sorely missed. I was struck, however, by the amount of joy that filled the room. Mourners were laughing out loud, little striving to be quiet. Everyone was smiling, laughing and telling stories. You couldn’t help but walk away that day without a smile on your face.
Think about it. A funeral home ordinarily doesn’t seem like the best place to find humor. Yet, when I thought about it later, it seemed so right. If there ever was a time for joy, why not in the depths of sorrow?
God’s Word tells us: “He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing…” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).”
There’s a proper place for sadness and weeping in life. However, although weeping will always be a part of the Christian journey, joy has a much broader, larger and more important role to play. A time for joy? Perhaps if we come to the conclusion, as did my Aunt’s children, that the time for joy is always now, we’ll never feel the need to dwell in sorrow, only visit it every now and then.
We pray. “Heavenly Father, thank You for knowing the end from the beginning and that everything under heaven is within Your authority. You are in control of all that is happening in my life. May I trust You through all the circumstances and as I seek You in prayer and praise. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.”
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34)
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