An ancient guru is reputed to have inquired of disheartened and dispirited people, those who were knowing no pleasure or joy in life, “When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing?”
By this unique line of exploration, he often arrived at the origin of their unhappiness. Their loss of vitality often harkened back to a major grief in their lives — the death of a dear one, the loss of a job or fortune, a significant illness, or some other major blow.
Some didn’t even realize they had stopped singing or dancing, which this teacher regarded as the symbols of loss of joy. Rather, their zest for life had just quietly trickled away, leaving them dry, dispirited shadows of their old selves.
Grief can do that. It can slowly drain us of our vitality.
Jesus says, “Blessed are you who mourn, for you shall be comforted.” That is the version in Matthew’s Gospel. In the Gospel of Luke, he puts it this way: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” This is the Lord Jesus’ promise: healing and happiness can follow mourning.
Proper, natural weeping, and sorrow, leads to renewal. Weep first, laugh later, Jesus implies. Psalm 30 puts it this way: “weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
This teaching of Jesus creates a safe place to be real, which is a must for proper mourning.
Also, knowing the Lord weeps with us is a major encourager, as we shed our tears and grieve. Jesus said “Inasmuch as it [happens] to the least of these my little ones, it happens to me.”
Psalm 23 helps with these thoughts: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.”
Little comforts us as much as kind people who are ‘walking with us’, ‘sitting with us’, ‘weeping with us’. They are the Lord’s presence, embracing the hurting. Joy then comes ‘in the morning’.
So . . . your job as a believer in acts of care and kindness, is to do just that. Walk along side those who are hurting. Weep with them. Set with them.
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