Sound of Surviving Blog

The other day, I found a rock that used to belong to my grandmother. It’s not anything fancy. It is just a smooth, rather plain-looking rock that has the words “Joy in despair” written on it in her handwriting. I remember finding it in her dresser drawer as a little girl, and not thinking much of it. Now, as I hold it in my hand, I realize that was the way my grandmother lived her life. Finding the joy in the despair. Although she grew up in the depression, I never heard her talk of the hardships that she and her parents and 7 siblings faced, but rather of stories about travelling the country and back while her dad was looking for work, playing with her brothers and sister, or of the Christmas her mother saved up money that she and her sister sent her from working to buy them new coats. I never heard her talk much about the hard part of raising four children. She only saw the light in them, and later, in their children. She rode her bike to and from work every day, and never once complained; it was just what she did. She lived her life finding the joy, in the hardest of times, in the despair.

I have learned a lot in my life, from my grandmother, but I think this lesson is the most important and valuable of all. That life will always be hard; it will never be perfect. But we can still find joy in it. We can look for the bright spaces in the dark. After all, in James 1:2-3, we are told, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness”. It doesn’t tell us to focus only on those hard times, but it does tell us to look for the joy in them. I can acknowledge that life is despairing, but not allow that despair to consume me. I can focus instead on the bright smiles of my nephew, on the laughter of my family and friends, and on the joy.  God knew life would be full of obstacles, and he never promised us it’d be easy. In fact, he promised us we’d have troubles. But he doesn’t want us to dwell on the hardships we face, but rather to look for the bright spots, the joy within them. Because those moments of joy, are him, leading us, guiding us, and holding us close.  That joy gives us something to cling to in the midst of our hard times. Because, as my grandmother always taught me, even in the midst of despair, God is always good. And there is still joy.