by Pastor Douglas Brauner

When Joy Doesn’t Make Sense

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

I took a darkroom class and printed pictures like the one included in this devotion. I have wanted to take this class for a couple of years. Now that I’m retired, I made room for this class in my crazy retired schedule.

I was not disappointed.

Analog photography is messy. Things don’t always go the way that we want them to go. When developing film, photographers never know what they’ve got until they pull the negatives out of the development tank. When printing, the printer never knows what they’ve got until the picture comes alive in the development tray.

Like analog photography, life can be messy.

• The dreams we have for our children go up in smoke when they leave home.
• The new job we’ve dreamed of having becomes a nightmare instead.
• The prognosis we received from the doctor was opposite of what we expected.

Sometimes life is messy. In this messy life, we hear the words of James.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
James 1:2-3 English Standard Version

You might want to get into James’ face and tell him a thing or two. “How can I count what I’m going through right now as joy? I’m not happy at all about what I’m suffering!” For some reason we equate joy with being happy. You don’t have to be happy about a bad prognosis, a job that is unfulfilling, or a child who rejects your love.

Joy is rooted in your relationship with Jesus, a joy based on the promise of his presence when life gets messy. He embraced the messy cross for you so that you might experience his joy when joy doesn’t make sense. We are daily reminded that all our possessions will one day disappear, but we will forever be with Christ. That fact is the root of joy.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado