When Cometh Joy by Betsy

Sometimes it seems like joy is just out of our reach. Our souls yearn for it and grasp for it but we don't quite reach it. Maybe you're like me and allow the inability to reach joy bring you even further away from obtaining it... knowing that we've no right not to rejoice in what God has given us... knowing that our despondency isn't the attitude that God wants for us. It makes the joyless times even harder for me to bear. I suppose it's guilt. Guilt over the inability to find joy.

I don't want to rationalize sin or make excuses for our human nature, but, as imperfect creatures, we all face times of despondency. I don't think there's any avoiding it. Sooner or later we'll enter into periods of winter where joy seems to be more of a myth than a reality. Where we look back on past springs and wonder how we felt such joy and jubilation... did we really experience it? Or were we simply naive enough to believe that our life could be filled with such joy?

To that I confidently say that our life can be filled with joy... it can, in fact, overflow with joy. And when we're in the midst of our winter we can positively know that joy will come again, although it's difficult to believe. God has not and will not forget us.

You might say, "Alright, girlie... you're, what? all of 26? What can you possibly have experienced to know this? What winter could you possibly have weathered to know such a thing to be true?" You're right. I haven't experienced half of what others have experienced. However, without going into detail, I have had a few personal, life shaking winters. But someone can always argue that theirs were harsher, colder winters than mine and, therefore, I can't promise that spring will return for them. So, I'll not waste time in describing my winters. Instead, I give you Psalm 30 (I refuse to paraphrase it. It's a beautiful Psalm and should be read word for word.):

1 I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. 6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. 7 LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. 8 I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication. 9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? 10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper. 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

This chapter promises the coming spring. He cried to God... God listened and healed! God brought his soul from the grave and kept him from the pit! He was deep in despair, but God spared him from the very bottom. Verse 5 is my favorite... weeping endures for the night but joy cometh in the morning! Joy will come!

The winter described in this chapter was harsh. David proudly declared that he couldn't be moved but, through this particular winter, he learned that his mountain was only held fast because of the Lord. He was troubled and God hid His face. I don't doubt for a second that he felt alone and abandoned... doubtful that joy would return. But God saw him through the night and David found that, yes! joy does come in the morning! He cried out to God and God became his helper. Night does not last forever... morning will come. Spring will come. And with it, joy.

There's no need to listen to my paltry words of spring and the return of joy... listen to the words in Psalm. Hold tight to these promises during your winter... when it seems that hope is gone and joy is a myth. Grab onto them and don't let go! God will turn your mourning into dancing and your sackcloth into gladness! Joy will come in the morning! And that, friends, is joy #100! Betsy

Joyfully Patient By Betsy Barnes

My daughter, Betsy, a pastor's wife and mother of three, enjoys blogging for close friends and family. Her writing is insightful and uplifting, so, with her permission, I will publish her posts from time to time. You can read them all under Betsy Barnes on the left side of this page.

Patient. According to Webster it means not easily made angry; calm; not hasty. Being patient or having patience means the quality of enduring with calmness; quiet perseverance.

Wow.

Patience is not one of my virtues. I try to be patient. Sometimes. Not nearly as often as I should, though. Impatience grips its tentacles around my chest and seems to pull at the very heart of me. This is why I never tarried long with my lessons in sewing. Or embroidering. Or art of any kind. I'd rather be doing countless other things. Like reading. But even in reading, a seemingly harmless and maybe even beneficial hobby, I'm impatient. Just ask my husband or my mom. They'll tell you how I stay up too late finishing a book. As a kid it was pretty harmless as my books were short and I had very few important responsibilities to handle the next day. But now my books are often 400-500 pages long and I have 3 very important responsibilities to handle every day. They are early birds, so sleeping late isn't an option!

My impatience is carried into all aspects of my life. Moving into a new house (closing day couldn't come fast enough), getting new shelves built and put up, pictures hung, paint on the walls (I haven't even unpacked all of the boxes yet!), waiting for my kids to decide what snack they want (does it really take 10 minutes to decide between pudding and apples?). When I feel the tentacles reach for my chest I try to take deep breaths and remind myself not to use the sharp side of my tongue when I speak. I'm embarrassed to admit that the deep breathing doesn't always work-- I'm especially embarrassed when I remember this:

Proverbs 14:29 He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.

There's that word 'hasty' again. Anytime I hear hasty I think of Ents from the Lord of the Rings (yes, I'm a LOTR geek). Those of you who are not lucky enough to have read the novels or to have seen the movies might not know what the Ents are. They are talking trees. But they talk very slowly and make decisions very slowly. I don't mean they talk slowly as in with a Texas drawl... I can appreciate a good, drawn out howdy. I mean that it takes them a long time to say anything. It took them several hours to simply greet each other with a proper Ent “Good mornin', y'all”. The young hobbits that found them were, as the Ent shepherd put it, much too hasty. The hobbits didn't understand the Ents' ways and begged for important decisions and actions to be made immediately. But the Ents understood the importance of being diligent and not doing anything until they had vetted every aspect of the issue. They did eventually enter the war against Sauran and bring down Saruman's tower, but it was not done until they agreed that there was a need to do so. I believe it took them 3 days to make this decision while it took the hobbits mere seconds to decide they were going on the “mission... quest... thing”. They didn't even know what they would be doing, where they were going or for what cause they would be fighting. The war was dangerous but they never stopped to think about the consequences.

Perhaps spending an entire morning to say hello is a bit much, but JRR Tolkien (the author) was making the same point as the author of Proverbs... don't be hasty. What exactly is the problem with being hasty? Well, the Hebrew word for folly is anoia and means 'want of understanding'. So those of us who tend to be impatient, those of us who are hasty, are actually exalting, or praising, 'want of understanding'. The bottom line: We praise foolishness.

Looking at it in that light makes me completely feel the abundance of foolishness that I daily exhibit. We are often warned about what happens when we pray for patience. So the next time I feel impatience grabbing at me, I'll not pray for patience. Instead, I'll pray that God will help me to no longer exalt folly. I'll pray that I will have joy in remaining calm and patient.

I have a long road ahead of me.