Joy through the Pain

 

Today we enter the wisdom and words of the third verse of, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go.  I invite you to say or even sing/pray these words with me:

 

O Joy that seeks me through my pain,

To You I cannot close my heart;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

And know the promise is not vain that you will ne’er depart.

 

Re-read those words, especially the first line.  O Joy that seeks me through my pain.  Joy not in spite of the pain or instead of the pain, but through the pain. 

 

I am not sure anyone has ever taught me how to do that?  I am not sure that is a spiritual muscle I exercise very often.  Usually, my dualistic mind categorizes and classifies something as good or bad; something as joyful or joyless.  But to be both?  Huh?  How does that happen or work?  This is where I believe curiosity and openness can be a pathway forward. 

 

Have you ever had a moment when pain and joy sat side-by-side?  Maybe it was a vacation where things kept getting delay and suddenly it became a joke that you could laugh about.  Maybe it was this week when you thought, “You know that person is amazingly creative at how he pushes my buttons.  You almost…almost…have to admire it.”  Or I often see this at funerals where tears and laughter mix/mingle together. 

 

Do you have moments when you have held together joy and pain?  Do you have a time when you traced the rainbow through the rain?  How might this truth open us to God’s persistent presence.  As always, I would love to talk more and hear how you are sorting through this in your life.

 

Prayer:  God through the tears I might shed help me also see the colors of Your love lighting the way; help me today experience and encounter how You are here in this moment, even when the gray clouds cover the rays of sun.  Help me explore how this truth transcends time from when Matheson first wrote these words to today.  Amen.