April 17 – “Palm Sunday joy … and grief”

I woke up with a song again today.  Interesting song, though.  I was afraid it would mark the rest of my day.  I woke up singing the Alphabet Song.  Yep.  ABCDEFG and all that.  No idea where that came from.  Guess the language sector of my brain needed a wake-up call.  Thankfully it suddenly switched itself over to Praise the Name of Jesus when I went in to brush my teeth.  Again, it wasn't a conscious thing.  I guess it just hit my internal circuits that today was Sunday and I needed to get focused on Jesus.    Chris and I went to another funeral Friday.  It was for the mother of two of our past Seaside kids.  Brigitte and Nick's mom had had breast cancer for about ten years, so the death was one of those blessings tinged with sorrow.  Chris spent many hours sitting with her on her couch after changing her surgical bandages.  She was a believer, but every time she came to church she would spend the whole time in tears.  It embarrassed her, so she eventually stopped coming at all.  Each of her three children wrote a tribute to her.  They were very sad expressions of regret for a rather tumultuous family relationship over the years.  The individual family members seemed to be holding together quite well, though.  Much prayer needed there.   I have another funeral tonight.  This one will be for the mother of a girl I went to high school with.  They live in Jamaica Beach now, and my friend's grandson goes to Seaside Christian Academy.  I met the lady who died several years ago, but I didn't know her.  Yesterday her daughter came over and we talked about her for a long time, though.  That really helped me get a handle on how to direct the service.  And tomorrow morning we are going to do the graveside portion of the service up in West Houston.   We have dinner on the grounds after worship today, so any hopes for a Sunday afternoon of watching the Astros and napping on the couch appear to be in serious jeopardy.  It's going to make for a really long Palm Sunday.  Grief in the midst of joy.  Joy in the midst of grief.  Wow.  That's a perspective issue that makes all the difference in the world.   Micah 7:7 says, "But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me."   Father, watch over those two families as they walk through the grieving process.  Bring them your joy.  Amen.