Get to the yet

I don't know about you, but the sermon from Lamentations this past weekend was just what I needed.  This week as I walked with one friend through the grief of losing her father ~ and listened to another dear one share her preparations to go home ~ and prayed about traveling to see my uncle before he goes to see Jesus ~ I couldn't help but feel some of what Jeremiah felt as he wrote his lamentations: "My soul is downcast within me". (Lam. 3:20) 
That's an important part of dealing with grief - acknowledging the pain.  But sometimes that's where I tend to dwell.  I move into verse 20 and park my little self with plans to stay for awhile.  But that's not what God wants for me.  He wants me to move through verse 20, and keep going ~ to verse 21.  I have to "get to the yet" : ).  "My soul is downcast within me, YET this I call to mind and therefore I have hope."

Jeremiah was flat out depressed ~ and he had a lot more reasons to feel that way than I do.  So the fact that his soul was downcast is easy to understand. But in spite of the depth of his sorrow, he didn't park in the downcast lot.  He kept moving in a direction that would bring him to hope and he tells us how he did it.  By choosing to call to mind God's great love and compassions and faithfulness.  On that journey, he observed the truth that God's mercies are "new every morning".  That's pretty amazing! 

That means this morning when I got up, His kindnesses toward me were brand new and fresh ~ not the same gifts as I received from Him yesterday, as amazing as those were.  It's like having a permanent Christmas tree at my house, and every day when I come down the stairs, there are new presents under the tree ~ for me ~ from Him.  How silly would that be if I walked by the tree every morning and didn't even take time to open the gifts, much less thank Him profusely for them.

So thank you, Jeremiah, for helping me know how to get to the yet, how to move from despair to hope.  I'm beginning to realize that this habit of gratefulness I've been trying to develop is more crucial to my spiritual health than I ever imagined.  The recalling of God's daily gifts ~ and the expression of gratitude for them ~ is foundational for not only joy, but hope as well.  And who doesn't need more of that : )?!