New Joys to Fill Empty Hands

Fishin' with Grandpa ~ Jorgen Sorenson

This week has seen three funerals related to our church family. Loved ones are gone, and there is much sorrow. Miles separate many who came together for just a few days to comfort one another. I think especially of the young fella of about ten or eleven years of age who came halfway across the country to play his mandolin for his grandfather's funeral. With our pastor accompanying on the guitar, he played strong and clear, playing for the memory of his dear grandpa who loved to play the guitar himself. Perhaps they'd played together just like this on summer visits. Undoubtedly, they'd gone fishing because his grandpa loved fishing, too. Before the funeral was over, the young fella was weeping on his own father's lap.

Death brings sorrow that lingers. Blessings have gone away, yet God is preparing other joys. J.R. Miller offers comfort in that thought..........

"Sorrow makes deep scars; indeed, it writes its record ineffaceably on the heart which suffers. We really never get over our deep griefs; we are really never altogether the same after we have passed through them—as we were before.

"We should remember that the blessings which have gone away are not all that God has for us. This summer's flowers will all fade by and by, when winter's cold breath smites them—we shall not be able to find one of them in the fields or gardens during the long, cold, dreary months to come—yet we shall know all the while that God has other flowers preparing, just as fragrant and as lovely as those which have perished. Spring will come again, and under its warm breath the earth will be covered once more with floral beauty as rich as that which faded in the autumn. So the joys that have gone from our homes and our hearts—are not the only joys. God has others in store just as rich as those we have lost, and in due time he will give us these to fill our emptied hands."

~ J.R. Miller
Grace Gems