A Journey of Faith

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Joy and Woe

JOY

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born;
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight;
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul devine;
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know
Safely thru the world we go.

-William Blake
Freedom, Love and Truth
William Inge
London: Longman, Green and Co., Inc. 1936


I'm not sure how I feel about this poem. I know it has a very simple ring of truth. We are made in the image of GOD. The Bible says that JESUS knew joy and woe; HE cried, HE laughed, HE grieved, HE rejoiced. I think that many of us want to deny the tendency to experience 'woe'. We want to embrace the joy, the happiness, the exhileration of our lives in CHRIST. And reject the despair, the fear, the uncertainty of just being human. So how to reconcile who we are in HIM, and who we want to be as a human being living in a fallen sinful world? I wish I had a great 'light bulb' moment to share. I don't. I am slowly coming to understand how to walk that fine line, how to see HIM even in the times where I am experiencing more 'woe' than joy. I am slowly learning to lay my woes at the cross. I am so thankful that HE is. (I was going to add something after 'is'. But really, I'm just glad that HE is. There are so many things that HE is, that I can't list them all. 'HE is' will cover it.)

LORD, thank YOU. Thank YOU for not giving up on my, even in my trying times. Thank YOU for the reminder that I am Yours, and that YOU made me to experience all of life. Please help me to remember to rest in YOU. In JESUS' name, Amen.

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