Advent Thoughts: Today I Choose JOY!

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

Because the Lord has anointed Me

to preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn,

To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of JOY for mourning,

The garment of PRAISE for the

spirit of heaviness;

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the Lord,

that He may be glorified."

Isaiah 61:1-3

As most of you who have followed this blog the past few months know, I have been working through the grieving process since the passing of our son this past May.  Most of the time I seem to be doing just fine, continuing to go through the motions of life every day.  There have been some difficult days, and there have been some wonderful days.  

Particularly as we have approached the Christmas season, there have been waves of grief come over me from out of the blue...totally unexpected and catching me off guard.  I expressed my feelings to friends and family, sharing my frustration with attempting to Christmas shop and send out our usual Christmas letter.  I have felt locked up inside, unable to render enough energy to handle these basic functions of preparing for Christmas. Most people have responded with love, compassion and understanding...helping to relieve the pressure that was building inside and freeing me to not cave in to the expectations of the season by doing more than I was capable of doing.  

Others attempted to remind me that I should think about the family that I still have here and not spoil Christmas by my lack of participation.  This was done in a spirit of good will and encouragement, and I understand where they are coming from, but as I tried to explain...this is not something I am doing deliberately. It is something that is occurring from 'out of the blue', totally unannounced or expected. Not something I can control....it is grief...pure and simple...well, maybe not so simple...rather complicated when you think about it. 

However, as I read these verses today, I recognize what Christ came to earth to do for us ..especially in the verses that say:

"To COMFORT all who mourn,

To CONSOLE those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

the oil of JOY for mourning,

The garment of PRAISE for the 

spirit of heaviness..."

and remarkably, that has given me "COMFORT", JOY, and a GARMENT OF PRAISE!"  It has unlocked something inside so that I am able to CHOOSE JOY in place of the mourning. I am deliberately choosing to put on that "garment of praise" and rise above the "spirit of heaviness" that has been pulling me down.  That is not to say that there won't still be times when the grief will hit me, but claiming God's Word gives me the strength to stand up against the sorrow and not allow it to drag me down.  

This reminds me of another one of our Christmas Carols:

"God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" (click here to hear)

"God rest you merry, gentlemen, 

Let nothing you dismay,

Remember Christ, our Savior,

Was born on Christmas Day;

To save us all from Satan's pow'r,

When we were gone astray.

O tidings of comfort and joy,

comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy!"

And may the Lord be glorified as we preach these "good tidings" of comfort and joy everywhere!

For previous thoughts on this subject from this time last year, Click HERE.