Sowing Joy (10/9/2021)

[Sixth article in a series on living Christ daily through the prescripts of the Peace Prayer]

“LORD, make me an instrument of your peace…Where there is sadness, let me sow joy.” There is an old adage, “Into every life a little rain must fall.” We all deal with moments of sadness because of loss or disappointment. We all wrestle at times with what we wanted and what we got and the justice of that. There’s also another old adage, “It’s not what happens to you that matters, it’s how you handle what happens to you that counts.”

While the sadness of disappointment and loss of dreams or desires is understandable and to be expected, those of us who follow Christ as his disciples know that the joy of Christ’s love and salvation buoy us even in times of sadness. We are able to let the joy of life in Christ illuminate these moments and gain perspective. And we are compelled to be companions to others who are suffering because of sadness, joyful companions who take the time to listen to and to walk along with the one who is sad as a sign of the power and presence of Christ’s love at work in the world. When we encounter sadness in another, we are called to bring the joy that flows from life in Christ into our conversation and to share it through authentic compassion and empathy.

At times, we will be called to accompany those grieving the loss of a loved one. Such grief is not only natural but healthy for it allows us to honor the lives of the loved one but also wrestle with life without them, grow in empathy for the sufferings of others, come to appreciate our own lives, and come to terms with our own mortality. When we encounter those who are sad because of grief, we bring the joy of life in Christ through our presence, our willingness to listen, our time spent with them in their loneliness without the other, our genuine concern for them. We also can bring the good news of Jesus Christ and his victory over sin and death through his death and resurrection and the promise of life in abundance through Him. We can share our belief in eternal life and the hope of being together not only with our LORD for all eternity but also our loved ones who are with the LORD after death.

Our companionship with others who are suffering in this life is demanded of us as followers of Christ. He set this forward in his parable of the judgment in Matthew 25:31-46 when He told us that what we did for the other we did for Him. And as we go in His name we take with us always the joy that flows from the knowledge of his love and the life He won for us through his sacrifice.

Until tomorrow, love well.