Every December Sky

The lyrics (below) by Beth Nielson Chapman closely relate to my message for this Sunday.  I will be talking about grief, grieving, mourning and how we deal with these issues in a healthy way.  Jesus has some very short and helpful words in the Beatitudes from Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." There is scholarly speculation whether this mourning is about personal sin or personal loss.  My take is it is both, but Sunday I will focus on the second ... dealing with loss.  This is why I love the poetry of the lyrics to "Every December Sky" which touch my heart and help me to see past the veil of death to "the spring inside the trees."

As I watch life unfold I marvel at how small we make God and the spirit God has placed inside His treasure, people.  We grieve like God didn't see this coming.  We, rather than mourn, often think that death is an end even God cannot overcome.  The song below reminds us ... 1) there is spring inside the trees ... 2) we must sometimes trust God's nature and promises rather than the difficult vision of a dying friend ... 3) we are invited to God's paradise (for all who say yes to God) ... 4) heaven isn't far away, it is close and we will be provided for even there.  Here is my favorite part ... we can look around us and see the assurance of God in every vision of beauty He shows us.

As I write today my friend and Assistant Leah Manning is mourning the imminent loss of her mother.  There will be lots of tears but God will bless and comfort them.  There will be stories (also part of mourning) and God will bless the hearts of the tellers and the hearers.  There will be outbursts of emotion, and God will provide grace and understanding to those mourners who seek Him.  Because if we mourn in the context of God's nurture we truly will receive comfort and the answer to the 'why' that so permeates out thoughts at these difficult times.  The answer to 'why' is a God who, in the midst of loss, tells us it is well with our soul.  He truly has it under control so that death and the toils of life truly have no sting for those who call on Him.  Praise God!

Every December sky must lose it's faith in leaves and dream of the spring inside the trees.
How heavy the empty heart, how light the heart that's full.
Sometimes I have to trust what I can't know ... sometimes I have to trust what I can't know

We walk into Paradise; the angels lend us shoes.
'Cause all that we own, we'll come to lose,
And Heaven is not so far, outside this womb of words.
With every rose that blooms, my soul is assured
It's just like a song I've known yet still unheard.