Laughter to Tears

Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief. - Proverbs 14:13

When I first read this, the first thing that came to my mind was, "This is really true." Not only for me, but I'm sure that this is true for everyone. Looking back in time and even now, some of the laughs I enjoyed was just covering my aches, pains and sorrows. The worries I had were hidden away, the suffering was held within. I usually tell people to not keep things inside because it's not healthy for them, in an emotional/mental way. But yet I don't listen to what I say. So hypocritical eh? Even though I know how bad it is to keep things hidden away inside, locked away never to be seen or heard by anyone, I still do it. Maybe it's just I haven't found anyone I can tell, or I just don't want to burden others with what I have.

Jon T. came out onto the stage at coffeehouse with 5 or 6 backpacks hanging from his arms and shoulders. All the burdens, worries, etc were too heavy for him. One by one, he let them go, taking the weight off himself. Too bad they aren't actually that easy to drop onto the floor and walk away from them.

"But we all bleed the same way as you do, and we all have the same things to go through." - Good Charlotte: Hold On

The video for this song was originally speaking to people who ever thought about suicide, people who experience it and survived, and others who knew someone that suicided. Not that I am thinking about it, it's just what the video was talking about. The sentence just reminded me of how everyone goes through the same things as well. Everyone keeps a lot of things to themselves so they can't be hurt by others or burden others.

I know that I will slowly be able to let these things go, one at a time. But for now, I'll just need to deal with them. Through the strength that God has given, it shall be done.

Two Planks

I was watching the new Love and Marriage sermons at Men's Cell on Wednesday with the other guys. The first video we watched was talking about how there is no perfect person. The speaker asked the women to name qualities that they look for in a man. Intelligent, hot, emotionally available, and a few other ones were named. The men were asked the same question regarding to women.

The speaker began to share about her past. How one of her ex-boyfriends broke up with her, not because her personality, but because of her body. Because of this one detail, one thing that she did not have, he broke up with her.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? - Matthew 7:3

That small speck of sawdust (our imperfections) leads us to such ignorance. We only see other's imperfections when we have such a big plank stuck in our own eye. Who are we to judge them? Who gave us the permission to judge others by what they did, where they went, how they did things?

The speaker made a very good point that I never thought about. We all have planks in our lives, but I didn't see that Jesus died on 2 planks nailed together. There are two people in a marriage of course, and both the man and woman has a plank. Just because they have these planks does not mean they should not be together. These planks were taken away by Jesus when He died on the cross. One plank from the man, the other from the woman. He took them away.

Alone, we are only one plank. Together, we form the cross.

Wisdom

35 For whoever finds me finds life
and receives favor from the LORD.
36 But whoever fails to find me harms himself;
all who hate me love death."

- Proverbs 8:35-36 (Wisdom's Call)

The title "Wisdom's Call" is so awesome. Wisdom is actually calling out to us, telling us to search and receive her. By discovering wisdom, we find life. It's that simple! But how do we find wisdom though? It's not like wisdom is playing hide-and-seek with us. Wisdom can be found by reading the bible and asking God for it.

In 1 Kings 3, Solomon asks the Lord for wisdom.

9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.

The Lord was happy that Solomon asked for wisdom. What holds us back from asking for wisdom as well? If we have the right heart for it, the Lord will for sure grant us with it. With the new wisdom, we would be able to find new life, according to what wisdom tells us. What is this new life that we would find though?

Verse 36, it says that if we do not find wisdom, then we will harm ourselves. If you think about that, it's true. Without wisdom, we tend to do things that are stupid. We begin to hurt ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally. But we do this to begin with anyways. Therefore, we ask for wisdom. Wisdom that will allow us to see the wrongs we have done.

Wisdom is awesome, isn't it?