My heart exults in the Lord

Scripture: My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior. The bows of the warriors are broken, while the tottering gird on strength. The well-fed hire themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry, hunger no more. The barren wife bears seven sons, while the mother of many languishes. The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5

Prayer: Make me ever resilient in observing the contrasts of life—and death. Bring me your peace.

Response: Yes, your Lord is a Lord of contrasts—at least it seems so in your experience. However, if you reflected on a scene—any scene—whose dimension was awash in eternity, the contrast, the rigid boundaries of time, evaporate. How else to explain the essential meaning of the tottering gaining strength? If you are not comfortable on a battlefield, how about considering that the weeping are consumed in laughter and joy, or the lonely are crowded with friends and loved ones?

When you encounter or become aware in your life or in that of a loved one deteriorating health where once vigor reigned, grief where joy ruled, loneliness where family once comforted, sorrow where only joy is remembered, punch through to the eternal dimension of these apparent contradictions and observe how these ingredients or dimensions of eternal life fold into a rich recipe for love, compassion, and service.

So, if you can, put aside your grief, gazing as you might into the past, and become an active participant in proclaiming the good news that, of course, confounds those lingering alone and lonely in their sorrow and grief on tottering limbs. Instead, allow your heart to exult in the Lord, your Savior.