weeping seed

These are hard times for so many.  Catching "the news" is like receiving a body blow, wounding the heart and scrambling the mind.  The personal or family news often doesn't seem much better, as we and those we love can be so heavy laden.  And so Jesus' invitation to us when we're so weary and burdened is to come to Him, such that He can lighten the load and shoulder that which is too much for us to bear (Matthew 11:28-29).

And so we come to Him, just as we are.  And though I would like to say that, as we do, we break into a smile, or even a sigh of relief, this isn't His Promise.  He promises to be by our side, walking with us through the troubles, even as we weep, just as He did in His Life here on earth.  He intercedes for us in our sorrow at the Father's Right Hand in ways we will only learn about in glory.  

So perhaps the image we need to carry when we are touched by sorrow is that of the farmer in Psalm 126:6 who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow.  As we continue to press forward in our sorrow with the seed of God's Word, and plant it in all the places we live in, and particularly in the troubled places, we find that those seeds of faith and trust will eventually spring up such that we can reap from our sadness songs of joy, even sheaves of them.  Such is my testimony, and I pray that this reflection has placed some of that weeping seed in your heart as well.