March 29, Good Friday ~ Giving Up Sorrow
- wendybrussel
- Mar 29, 2024
- 1 min read
Giving Up Sorrow
Today, we are asked to give up sorrow. Today is Good Friday… again. It is 2024, and in the past year, the world has seen a tremendous amount of pain, suffering, division, and inhumanities committed against our fellow human beings not to mention how our planet is being treated. The sorrow I feel for what our world has become is heaped on top of my own personal grief for the loss of loved ones and for the dreams they held. It is not a pretty picture, but it is one of the scenes that most of us share.
How are you doing? Are you talking to someone about your grief and/or those things that bring you sorrow? It is important to do that or you might find yourself drifting off into despair, desperation, or depression. As Christians, we are not asked to put on rose-colored glasses and waltz around, ignoring our reality. We are to deal with it, talk about it and grab firmly onto hope. Our hope is found in Jesus Christ. Our hope is found in the God we discover in others and, in God’s wonderfully created universe.
Read through today’s selected scripture. Acknowledge Jesus’ suffering but stay tuned and see how it turns into hope, promise and new life.
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4
For me sorrow comes from not seeing the big picture. I’m reminded of a time I was invited to raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The peace of floating noiselessly through a silent world where no phones, no media, no traffic, no airplanes could disrupt the journey was coupled with views that reminded me of how small I was and how big God is. A full moon shown so brightly one night, I thought I would need sunglasses! The six-day trip had its rapids, its rattlesnakes, its secret canyons, and its wonder-ment…but always there was the awareness that the trip with end…and end with an inevitable long, hot, dry trek out. It was grueling with several pauses…