Joy & Pain, Sun & Rain

Psalm 30:5 (NLT)

...weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

I had this verse on my mind this morning, despite the foggy, cloudy weather and my feeling slightly ill (I called in sick to work and stayed under the blankets a couple extra hours). And I started thinking about this verse. I think most people have experienced this at some point in their lives -- they get upset and go to bed crying and in some miraculous way, by the time you wake up in the morning, things seem so much better.

But I started thinking about this in terms of nature. Weeping may last through the night -- like rain. In the spring it seems like it tends to rain more at night than actually during the day, and similarly I think I personally seem to get more stressed out and upset about stuff at the end of the day. So I started reading it as "rain may last through the night," and then when joy comes in the morning, I had this image in my find of the rain subsiding at dawn and though it was miserable and dreary while it lasted, it soaked the ground and allowed for a beautiful change. Small seedlings begin sprouting from the ground, pushing up through the damp soil, strengthened by the night-long rain. What joy in a new creation. Something so beautiful emerges from a difficult period of trials and hardships. Fragile, green, and young but growing stronger every day, feeding on the Light and the promise that after every dark night, a new day will come. Praise God; what love.