"Seeds of Joy"

"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." (Psalms 126:5)

  If you are interested in what expectation and longing for something to happen might produce, if it something you know is going to take place, it is incredibly pleasant to experience; but if it is something that you doubt will happen, it produces worry and sadness; this is not speaking of the those things we have doubt about, but those things that we believe in with all of our hearts! Paul has a special way of expressing what this means, in that he says in Romans 8:22-25, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Personally, I look forward to the day when I will hear my wife speak again, when I can hug my son, when I can ask the Lord some serious questions; things that I believe with all of my heart are going to happen; but in the meantime, with patience I wait for it! This is the groaning that Paul is speaking of, because this wait, although sometimes hard and painful to endure, is absolutely no comparison to the glory that is to come! How else can we put this? When Paul says that all things work together for good, the all things includes the sufferings and the tears that are shed by all the saints; "tears in a bottle," like a bottle of Champagne that will be uncorked and explode with joy and excitement. If we truly believe that all of this is true, then how can anything else take the joy of it actually happening away? It really feels amazingly good to get a cry out! If you haven't done it in a while, it is long over due. It is quite alright for us to weep over our situation or circumstance, as long as we remember to rejoice over the end result...

""Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour has come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."" (John 16:20-22)