I was sitting on a bench waiting for the train when all of a sudden I started crying. Not a funeral wail, but tears, sniffling—obvious crying. A woman, when she noticed me crying, started scanning the platform to see what had caused it. It was obvious that she was most uncomfortable, so much so that I almost laughed, but I could only sob. And then she walked away.
Well-meaning friends try to console me in my deep sorrow by quoting Psalm 30:5, “Joy comes with the morning.” But I wonder, “How long and dark is the night?”
There are those who see my tears and do not run away but rather stay with me in my sorrow. And in that action, for me, joy comes in the mourning.
When your dark night is so deep that it seems the clock has stopped, do not lose hope. Even in the darkness, the One who was with the Creator when the light was created is there with you. God grant you night vision, that even in the darkness, even in your mourning, you may see and know the joy of being who you are, a child of God.
This message was adapted from “Jesus Never Fails” written by Barbara Berry Bailey that first appeared in the March 2006 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine. If you are reading “Daily Grace” online, sign up to receive it by email daily.
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