Joy Comes in the Morning

Hard times come to every person. Until the grip of this old world is forever broken by that final blast from Michael’s trumpet, we will go on having what one hymn writer called “the night seasons” here on earth. No one is exempt from heartache. But the night cannot last forever, and the darkest hour is just before the dawn. God has promised that “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Ps. 30:5 kjv).

One night while driving, Bill and I were listening to an African-American pastor on the radio encouraging his congregation—as well as his radio audience. With a heartfelt genuine compassion for his ­people, he kept repeating this promise from Psalm 30: “Weeping endures for the night!” he would say, asking them to repeat the words after him. 

“But joy comes in the morning! Let me hear you, now. Weeping endures for the night…” The ­people would sing that phrase back to him. “But joy comes in the morning!” With one great voice they returned the affirmation. “Joy comes in the morning!”

Eventually the organ punctuated the truth. Its great music swelled like waves cresting on the beach. “Joy, joy comes in the morning!”

As we listened, the problems in our own lives seemed to settle into perspective in the immense power of God and His great faithfulness since the psalmist first wrote the words: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”!

The song that resulted from that experience has spoken to us for over 45 years and has been used by God to give perspective and encouragement to many who have written to us or spoken to us at concerts. Over the years we have come to understand that pain is, as C. S. Lewis once called it, “God’s megaphone.” It is a useful tool in the hand of the Master Craftsman of our souls to hollow out spaces in us for holding the joy in the morning!

When the hard times of life come, we know that no matter how tragic the circumstances seem, no matter how long the spiritual drought, no matter how dark the days, the sun is sure to break through; the dawn will come. The warmth of His assurance will hold us in an embrace once again, and we will know that our God has been there all along. We will hear Him say, through it all, “Hold on, my child, joy comes in the morning!”

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Nature's Grace

The yard is a hundred shades of green with punctuation marks of red geraniums, climbing pink hydrangeas, and golden black-eyed-susans. Along the porch edge the yellow marigolds, orange impatiens, and red-orange geraniums smile up between the white petunias and blue lobelias. The clematis vines have climbed to the upstairs porch where they are blooming away in orchid-pink stars.

The layers of green on the hillside are starting to look like I had hoped they would. The hundred-foot white pine that was shaved on one side by an ice storm two decades ago has become a dark backdrop for the dogwoods and redbuds we planted to hide the missing branches. Smokey-gray lichen dot the bark of the pine giving character to the once-ravaged trunk. The beautiful weeping redbud my sister and her husband gave us years ago now looks like a fine lady’s green umbrella of perfect leaves layered like a swan’s down fan. Last spring before leaves, the umbrella was solid pink blossoms.

Beyond the layered pine and dogwood and redbuds is the dark, dark green rounded beauty of the “oak bush”. Yes, I know there is typically no such thing, but a few summers ago our stately oak was diseased and died. We had the tree cutters saw it down, and, like always, I asked them to leave me a tall stump that I could use as a pillar to hold a big planter of geraniums and trailing sweet potato vines.

Much to our surprise, the “dead” oak stump began send out green shoots! We had seen willows do this, but never a hardwood like an oak. We have watched now for several years as our oak stump turned into what we now call our oak “bush”. It is now a 20 feet tall and perfectly shaped tree. We tell our porch guests to look closely, for if they do, they will see the thick stump of our old oak tree, now almost totally camouflaged by thick new branches reaching like children around the stump to grasp hands as they dance in the breeze. I sit here this morning marveling at what God can do with the seeming tragedies of nature.

We, too, have whole parts of us that have been sheared off by the ice storms or cut down entirely, leaving us despairing because we thought that part of our once tender hearts was dead. Sometimes we, too, have tried to hide the gash or the stump with some fast-growing blooms or repurpose what was left and make do. But, lo! Something new was sprouting from a deep root! And look there, how we were surrounded and healed by the flowering beauty of others who came along side to cover our wounds and bloom away while we healed and found a new role. Hope! Insistent hope!

Farther down the hillside from the redeemed pine and the oak bush is another old stump, this one of a huge willow that was toppled by a windstorm. Willows are more brittle, and while they can bend to most spring winds, they are more easily broken by twisters. Again, we had to cut this tree below the break. It stood for many years, sort of rotting away on the inside leaving a jagged circumference. Ants and other insects gradually reduced the core to sawdust. One day, headed to the creek for a cook-out, we noticed a sprout in the middle of the decaying stump. By the end of the summer, we could tell the sprout was a mulberry. This year, nourished and shelter by the old willow wood, the sprout is well on its way to being a strong mulberry tree that will furnish a good crop of food for the dozens of bird species that make our land their home. These are the same cardinals, finches, warblers, wrens, martins and cedar wax wings that sing to us from the old white pine and the oak bush while the sun is setting to the west of our front porch.

Eventually, for all trees and people, there will be an end of our time on this good earth. But the end is not the end. There is an “after that.” The seeds of the willow catkins in the spring and the pinecones and acorns in autumn will take root somewhere for a crop of new sprouts. And even the core of an old tree will prove to be fertile soil for something fresh and green.

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What If?

Last summer our daughter, Amy, went to visit a few places in England she had missed the year her family was living there.  She sent me this picture with a text that simply said:  “I had breakfast here this morning.”  The picture took my breath away.

“Where are you?” I texted back. 

She answered that she was in Durham and had stayed at the castle which is used as a Bed & Breakfast in the summer.  The whole estate has become part of Durham University, the third oldest university in England (after Oxford and Cambridge); the university uses the Durham Cathedral as a dining hall for students and guests.

 But my mind was stuck on the picture.  Wow!  What if this were a church?  And what if when you went there on Sunday, this is what you saw when you entered the sanctuary?  And what if there was a seat with a place card for you—a card with a mirror on it so that you would see your face when you picked it up?

And  what if  there were twice as many places set as the church thought would be there?  And what if after you had your fill of food and fellowship and singing and conversations, you took an extra place card with you and gave it to that young man at work or the single mom next door, or the new immigrant family across the street and said:  We had this special place set for you at the table.  Want to come sit by me next Sunday for breakfast?

And what if there were no “church-building” ulterior motives except to break bread together, sing our hearts out, and enjoy the bounties of the Lord?  What if we could confess our most urgent worry and find prayer, support, and understanding without judgement or condescension? 

 I know now that this was just a bed in a castle and breakfast in a cathedral, but what if...?

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Give It Away

In the U.K. December 26th is Boxing Day.  The tradition started when servants who worked hard during the labor-intensive Christmas holidays, were given time off the day after Christmas; gifts of needed clothing, food, and extra money were given them by their masters. But in the U.K. today, this day has become the day to box up things families have accumulated or outgrown and give them to charities that serve the needy.

 But not just on Dec. 26, but as a way of life, maybe “Give It Away” should be more than a catchy song title, but a revolutionary way of living that goes against the grain of almost everything we see or read or hear in the culture around us.  We hear much about accumulating as much as possible, protecting and securing what we accumulate, and making sure that when we die, we keep our accumulations from being taxed, siphoned, stolen or diminished any more than is absolutely necessary and legal.

But Jesus taught a different way and invited those who want to be truly happy to totally tip the culture up-side down.  If we spend our lives always striving to win, He taught, we will ultimately lose.  But if we spend our lives giving ourselves away, we won’t be able to even hold all the winnings.  He said the gentle-spirited folks would end up with the whole earth, and that the comforts of life will fall to those who know how to mourn.

Now, it seems, psychologists and counselors are catching up to what Jesus said.  Ingrown living tends to contribute to depression, fear, and anxiety, while caring about others, getting involved in great causes, and investing energy to be the answer to the problems we see and sense is an incredibly enriching, joyful, and rewarding way to go – and an effective cure for sadness, depression, and feeling overwhelmed.

So, after this season of gift-giving how shall we live?  We can “live large” or stay small.  One thing is promised: we can never outgive the Giver of all good things.  Go ahead.  Just try!

If you want more happy than your heart can hold ,
If you want to stand taller – if the truth were told –
Take whatever you have and give it away!
If you want more happy and a lot more fun
And deep satisfaction when the day is done –
Throw your heart wide open and GIVE IT AWAY!

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