Depression to Joy

Tuesday 10/16/2012 6:41 AM

Thinking about Emily’s upcoming wedding makes me realize how quickly time passes.  It seems like yesterday that she was born and now she is on the verge of beginning a family of her own.  When raising a family it is easy to see yourself as an indispensible part of life, especially when you are in the middle of the chaotic schedules that can accompany parenthood.  However, as I look back at my life and those who molded it, particularly at my dad and my grandparents, I realize they are distant memories that are usually recalled only during special times like birthdays and anniversaries.  Psalm 103:15-16 seem especially meaningful today.  “The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.”  More than likely I will die within the next thirty years and, like my dad and grandparents, I, too, will become a distant memory.

Jaci would suggest that thinking about such things is depressing and, if that were the end of my thought process, I would have to agree.  However, my thoughts do not stop there and neither does Psalm 103.  It continues with these words, “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.”  While my dad and grandparents have become distant memories clouded by time, God’s faithfulness to me has never wavered.  The comfort I have is that after I die and no longer have a shaping influence on my family, God’s love and care for them will never falter.  That fact chases away any depressing thoughts and replaces them with joy.