Great grief sometimes must run its course before the eye of God, until His private medicines reduce the fever. A man does not want to be cheered up into a fake joy. That is an insult to his humanity.
Happiness and sorrow spin around, chasing each other like pagan deities of sun and moon.
We shall be happy, we shall be sad. We are told to weep with those who weep, laugh with those laughing, so it follows those things in their place are licit.
Joy however, that knowing of salvation, of Him being Good, Beautiful and True will sustain us even through the icy claws of helpless depression.
We cannot be happy all the time, we can make good effort to be frequently morose, but Joy can be found even in the worst of times.
“ A wedding ceremony is solemn but it is also cheerful. It is serious, but far from boring. It is weighty, but there is joy there: the kind of joy where people will shed a tear.”
The older I get, the longer I’m married, the more Christian weddings I get to attend, the more is impressed upon me the profound truth/depth/reality of the wedding imagery in the Bible, from Genesis to Ephesians to Revelation. It’s not just a metaphor, it’s a profound truth, and there is so much deep and abiding joy in recognizing it and pursuing it in your life - both in trying to love your wife as Christ loves the Church, but also in the comfort of knowing that you are a beloved child of you Heavenly Father. It’s no surprise that as our culture lost its sense of the importance/beauty/permanence of marriage, it lost its sense of joy. Anyway, beautiful reflection, thank you so much.
Thank you, and amen to your observations. It is no surprise that the kingdom of darkness shoots its fiery darts at the institution of marriage.
And you are right about wedding ceremonies. You can see the contrast so clearly between and Christian and a non-Christian wedding ceremony. The unbelieving wedding ceremony is grasping at the outer forms of transcendence, but ends up lacking in beauty. Our modern day likes all the cool aesthetics of a traditional wedding, but does not realize that the virtue of those aesthetics comes from God, whom the culture is trying to ignore.
This song is like the musical version of this article. Around the 1:30 mark it modulates (i think?) to this beautiful major/minor combo that captures the joy and grief component.
An excellent reminder that we each have our own internal life and that not all of it is meant to be shared. Some is, but not all. Even when we do share, the joys and sorrows often feel untouchable by others.
The first half of your essay reminded me of an old poem by W.H. Auden that touched on the loneliness of suffering. I had to find it to remember it well enough.
"About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along"
Sure. I encountered the poem next to the painting he references in the last stanza. It helped me remember both.
The painting is titled Icarus, but it looks like a pastoral landscape. Icarus is a tiny figure in the mid-ground, splashing into the water while the world moves on.
Happiness and sorrow spin around, chasing each other like pagan deities of sun and moon.
We shall be happy, we shall be sad. We are told to weep with those who weep, laugh with those laughing, so it follows those things in their place are licit.
Joy however, that knowing of salvation, of Him being Good, Beautiful and True will sustain us even through the icy claws of helpless depression.
We cannot be happy all the time, we can make good effort to be frequently morose, but Joy can be found even in the worst of times.
Indeed, well said.
“ A wedding ceremony is solemn but it is also cheerful. It is serious, but far from boring. It is weighty, but there is joy there: the kind of joy where people will shed a tear.”
The older I get, the longer I’m married, the more Christian weddings I get to attend, the more is impressed upon me the profound truth/depth/reality of the wedding imagery in the Bible, from Genesis to Ephesians to Revelation. It’s not just a metaphor, it’s a profound truth, and there is so much deep and abiding joy in recognizing it and pursuing it in your life - both in trying to love your wife as Christ loves the Church, but also in the comfort of knowing that you are a beloved child of you Heavenly Father. It’s no surprise that as our culture lost its sense of the importance/beauty/permanence of marriage, it lost its sense of joy. Anyway, beautiful reflection, thank you so much.
Thank you, and amen to your observations. It is no surprise that the kingdom of darkness shoots its fiery darts at the institution of marriage.
And you are right about wedding ceremonies. You can see the contrast so clearly between and Christian and a non-Christian wedding ceremony. The unbelieving wedding ceremony is grasping at the outer forms of transcendence, but ends up lacking in beauty. Our modern day likes all the cool aesthetics of a traditional wedding, but does not realize that the virtue of those aesthetics comes from God, whom the culture is trying to ignore.
This song is like the musical version of this article. Around the 1:30 mark it modulates (i think?) to this beautiful major/minor combo that captures the joy and grief component.
https://open.spotify.com/track/3dEH8gjn06o5yIMVPmc7aJ?si=98983ac91bdb48ea
An excellent reminder that we each have our own internal life and that not all of it is meant to be shared. Some is, but not all. Even when we do share, the joys and sorrows often feel untouchable by others.
The first half of your essay reminded me of an old poem by W.H. Auden that touched on the loneliness of suffering. I had to find it to remember it well enough.
"About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along"
~Musée des Beaux Arts, found at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/159364/musee-des-beaux-arts-63a1efde036cd
I'm so glad you came around to discuss that component regarding joy as well. God feeds us each in ways that feed us best, it seems.
thanks for that poetry link, neat connection
Sure. I encountered the poem next to the painting he references in the last stanza. It helped me remember both.
The painting is titled Icarus, but it looks like a pastoral landscape. Icarus is a tiny figure in the mid-ground, splashing into the water while the world moves on.
Beautiful words. There is always so much profound value in the thoughts you share here.
Keep up the great work.
thank you, Glad it could be enjoyed.