Though the sorrow may last for a night...
joy comes in the morning!!!
(I'm trading my sorrows...I'm trading my pain...I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord..)
Do you know the song?
It's one of my favorites and one I've been singing for years.
But I got a new revelation about the song this week-end.
It started on my less-than-perfect birthday. Maybe it was because I didn't get my pink pony.
More than likely, though, it was because we have a big revival starting at our church tonight and Satan knew the key to weakening the Spirit of God in the place was to divide the pastor and his wife.
And I played right into his hands.
I got mad over the dumbest things. Over-or-under-toilet-paper-roll caliber stuff.
I spent my birthday dinner eating a Lunchable. Any birthday princess will tell you that is NOT acceptable.
Saturday evening in the parsonage was not the best place to be.
Worse than fighting, there was that awful silence. So thick with tension, it sucked the very life out of you.
Sunday morning came and, to my utter disbelief, was NOT accompanied by an apology.
I expected a breakfast-in-bed, on-his-knees-begging-for-forgiveness apology. I would've settled for a simple I'm sorry.
I got neither.
Alternatively fighting tears, conviction, pride, and anger during the service, I just wanted it to be over so I could retreat to my bed with a book where at least the heroine would get her happily-ever-after.
But the best laid pity-party plans went awry when a friend's teenaged daughter asked if she could stay with us between services.
I wanted to say NO! I've got more sulking to do!
But I already knew that I was willingly sabotaging a revival we'd prayed about for months. And for what?
Seriously, for what?
At that point, I couldn't even remember why I was mad.
How scary is that?
Some of us spend our whole lives so angry and we have no clue what we're so upset about.
It was then that I realized the truth behind the song.
Sorrow may last for the night but joy won't come in the morning UNLESS..
You trade your sorrows.
You can't hang on to them and expect God to still bless you.
I can't put an entire church, an entire community, in danger because I've opened up the doors to the devil in a place I've been given authority in.
All because things didn't go my way.
The revelation itself didn't bring about an immediate change. But I did let her stay and we went to lunch.
On the way, my husband asked me what had happened to my joy.
I wanted to shout, YOU TOOK IT! (Maybe it was a good thing she was with us.)
But the truth was, I gave it up.
And refused to get it back.
That's playing with fire.
Fortunately, as the afternoon went on, I discovered I didn't want to live without it.
That simmering-inside, self-righteous, always-have-an-excuse person? That was the old creature. It has passed away and there's no resurrection. I was a fool for even entertaining the notion.
No matter what the circumstance.
Simple things through the eyes of a child can be so refreshing. Bathing the dogs, playing dominoes. The life in the house when the neighbor teen arrived was electrifying. Life has a way of commanding darkness to leave.
By the time the evening service came, I was renewed. My joy had returned, even with my husband's apparent determination that an apology was not warranted.
It didn't matter.
By that point, it was between me and God.
Sitting here this morning, with a heart full of peace and joy, I can hardly fathom why I'd so quickly relinquished it.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1
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