The Calendar in the Window

I have one of those perpetual calendars in my kitchen window, one of those calendars that has a page for every day of the year.  Some of those calendars give sports trivia or movie quotes or motivational quotes.  My calendar is Scripture. 
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I love that calendar!  Each morning as I'm making my way to the coffee pot, I flip the page over to the new day and get a new verse to get me started.

This morning this is what I read:  "Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh."  (Luke 6:21 ESV). 

One of the things I love about that calendar is that it uses a variety of translations.  Everything from the King James Version to The Message.  The calendar actually had the KJV translation this morning  ("Blessed are ye.....".)  But when I went to my ESV, it read exactly the same way.  Well, except for ye and you.

These are words of Jesus.  Part of what we know as His "Sermon on the Mount."  Matthew gives us a little different rendering.  Matthew's Gospel reads this way:  "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Two things have come to my mind as I have read these verses this morning.  First, I have taken a journey down memory lane, back to Israel, where we visited the site where Jesus spoke these words.  I am transported back to that beautiful hillside in Gallilee where just last month we sat and worshiped.

But this morning as I read this verse, my thoughts turned to my friends who just a few days ago experienced great loss.  The Stilwell family is even now mourning that loss.  Rick's family, and his friends as well, have shed many tears since his passing last Friday. And for Rick's family, now that public memorial services and public goodbyes are done with, the process of private grieving begins.  My heart continues to ache for them.

How thankful I am that we who know the Lord, we who are part of the family of God, do not grieve as those who have no hope!   "For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep......."  (1 Thess. 4:13ff).  And it is for that very reason.....that because of Jesus we have the assurance that this life is not all there is, that the end of our life here is not the end, that we will be forever with the Lord.....that we can have hope.  And even though we weep and mourn now, one day we will laugh again!

This morning I'm praying for the Stilwells.  I'm thanking God for Rick, for the legacy he left and for all the lives he impacted.

And I'm thankful for the encouragement God gave me this morning through that calendar in the window!

"Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning." 
(Psalm 30:5)