Funerals and Birthdays
A post from Matt Hoppe:
How can life be so phenomenal in one breath and so frustrating with the next?
How are we to respond with both mourning and laughter while recognizing pain and beauty?
Sometimes the vastly different seasons happen simultaneously leaving us with the difficulty of lamenting someone’s hardship while being ecstatic about our own blessings.
Ecclesiastes is comforting – kind of – in the way it gives us permission to have different seasons of life. But how do we gain the wisdom of knowing when to mourn for the sake of others when maybe we feel like dancing or stifling our weeping for the sake of those who are laughing? I don’t know.
Artist Brook Fraser joins Job’s perspective in writing “Desert Song:”
This is my prayer in the desert
When all that’s within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is a God who provides
I will sing praise…
This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I’m filled to be emptied again
The seed I’ve received I will sow
I will sing praise…
I know that God is faithful, that He is loving, and that He strong.
While it seems to be both the best of times and the worst of times, may we be aware of His guidance, and may His grace cover our responses so that His name may be praised.
