(This week has been filled with grief in our community. I felt compelled to share the devotional below which I wrote several years ago after the loss of a student as it speaks to the grief we face in life as well as the hope and peace we find only in God.)

“My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, ‘Gone is my glory, and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.’”                                              Lamentations 3:17-18 (NRSV)

Sadly, I attended a funeral for a teenager. A young man had been battling cancer for several months. Although, it seemed he might be gaining the upper hand on his illness another unforeseen complication arose and he passed away unexpectedly. 

I had the opportunity to share my condolences with the father as he was navigating through his grief. Through it all, I continued to wonder how could there be any greater pain than the pain of losing a child? Why does this happen? How can a parent come to terms with and move through such a dark time?

As you can imagine the reason I am sharing this experience is because the service for this young man had a profound impact on me. In part due to the incomprehensible loss of young, innocent life, and in large part due to the thoughts shared in the message that day. 

I appreciated the officiating pastor who directly addressed and acknowledged the deep understandable feelings of grief, loss, and loneliness on that day. Moving beyond that, he underscored the joy to be found in that day … no more pain, brokenness, restrictions, or disease. The joy of the eternal life we all seek. Then he went deeper by linking that joy to music which this young man loved so much. Everyone was encouraged to sing with a challenge by the pastor for all in attendance to find just one reason to be joyful – to praise God. 

Just one reason …

As we each joined in the singing very softly at first, it all clicked within my heart and mind. Even in our darkest, loneliest, most grief-stricken moments, we need only to find just one reason to rejoice with God. Here are some of the words we sang:

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I’ll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes      (excerpt from 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman)

It is my sincere prayer that in the coming days, weeks, months, and years those dealing with grief that accompanies an unimaginable loss will wake each day and find just one more reason to praise God.

When we walk through those dark valleys on life’s journey and hit those all time lows, may we each find Just One Reason for joy and may that one reason lead us out of that darkness and back into the light.

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23