Joy in the Morning

 

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5b

We used to  be newspaper people. I would come downstairs in the morning and go right to the front porch to look for the paper. Most mornings I beat the paperboy. I continued, hopefully, to go look for it first thing.

One Sunday morning (the best day for the paper) it wasn’t there when I came down at about 6:50 AM. My husband came down with our 3 year-old granddaughter, Stella, at about 7:05 and they went together to look for it. It still wasn’t there but the paperboy was in sight.

Knowing how much we like the paper Stella got excited. “He’s almost here, He’s almost here!! Pops I see him coming!”  The paperboy was barely awake and by the time he got to the porch she was out to meet him and receive the paper from him. My husband said the delivery boy was so surprised by Stella’s joy, she woke him up.

Only a child would have this kind of joy and enthusiasm over receiving a newspaper. But it made me wonder if this is the joy that God would like to see in us as we receive from Him. In Mark 10:15 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Many people have received the gift of eternal life with this kind of joy. The hope of heaven is real and exciting.

Over time, and with many of life’s hardships, we tend to forget the joy. We look at our circumstances, not the hope we have in Jesus Christ. We have our eyes on the things on earth and not on the things above.

When I got up and didn’t see the paper, I wasn’t all that happy. Not Stella, she could see hope. She looked again, saw the paper coming and rejoiced with great joy.  She saw beyond the immediate truth of no paper to the truth of, “It’s coming!”

In our circumstances don’t we have that hope? This life is temporary. Someday, Christ will return and His children will spend eternity with Him. He’s coming! I should be rejoicing with the saints all the time over this truth. Instead, I’m looking at the empty porch and not anticipating what is to come.

The inter-generational living we are doing with our daughter, her husband and our three grandchildren is hard for some to understand. All of us have had to make some adjustments to our thinking and daily habits. But, the humility, the honesty, and the joy of small children is a gift from God we want to receive with joy. They provide us with life lessons and opportunities for spiritual growth(!).

Do you and I remember the “joy of our salvation?” Are we willing to look past today’s circumstances to the Truth of what God has awaiting us in blessings here, and in the hope of heaven?