Reflect - from the june 9 2025 weekly email
There have been times in my life when I thought everything was over. Times of great grief and distress: a relationship ending, leaving a church, coming out and losing friends. The list goes on. In those moments of grief, it can be hard to think about anything else. And yet, I also know, looking back on those times from the distance of years and healing, I can see something amazing grew from those experiences. I love this line in the Psalm:
“Let those who plan with tears reap the harvest with joyful shouts.”
Lines like this aren’t meant to glorify suffering. It’s not saying that we need to be thankful for bad things that happen to us, or gloss over harm done to us because, “God will bring something good out of it.” But it is a reminder that sometimes pain does bring growth. Sometimes the ending of a relationship makes space for a new one to flourish. Sometimes leaving a church means that you can find health and healing. Sometimes coming out means you lose one community only to find another where you can be yourself. This cry of the Psalmist for God to bring about a harvest of joy can be your cry, too.
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