Joy (Always) Comes With The Morning

Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones!
    Praise his holy name.
 For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night,
    but joy comes with the morning.  Psalm 30:4-5

My mother celebrated her 80^th birthday yesterday.  Over the weekend, we had a celebration for her, and I heard many stories.  Some of them I had never heard before, and others I had literally lived through.  There was a lot of laughter, and yes, there were tears of happiness too.  It was indeed a joyful day.  Joyful because you knew it would go beyond just the day.  My mother would later say it was the happiest day of her life.  I have at numerous times written about the difference of happiness, which is always fleeting, and joy, which is long lasting and enduring.  Watching my mother over the weekend, I could see that she had truly mastered joy in her life, and from those who were with her, you can tell they had it too.

Joy is a blessing of living a life for God.  In life we have moments of happiness and peace.  Yet, there are times of struggle, challenges, and darkness as well.  Sometimes, these challenges and times of darkness can seem to be unending.  Those are the times where happiness is in a far distant place and peace is but a long lost dream.  However if we focus on joy that comes from the Lord, we can endure through these times realizing that although we have darkness around us, the morning will come.  Yes, there are tough times, but there is a saying that tough times make for tough people.  Tough people understand that you don’t have to see the light to know that it is there, and if we have God within us, there is an undiminishing light shining within us that cannot be denied.  This is the joy we have in God, and if we have built our life on Him, it is limitless.  It never dies.  It never fails.

We are blessed to serve a God of abundance.  If we live with Him, we are given an incredible wealth of gifts which cannot be bought or earned through worldly deeds.  Paul in his letter to Galatians said, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”  (Galatians 5:22-23)  Joy is God’s way of saying no matter what may come or troubles may fall, be not dismayed.  I am here and this too shall pass.  So no matter what darkness is in your life today, realize that the morning is coming!  Know this!  How can you seek the joy of God in lieu of worldly happiness?  How can you maintain joy when darkness comes?  My prayer is that as God’s children we always remember that no matter what darkness comes, joy always comes with the morning!  Amen!