Joy Comes in the Morning

Chad Freeman hired me on at Bosch 9 years ago. I worked for him first as an engineer and later as a neighboring department’s group leader supporting his. 

During those 9 years, I never heard him speak negatively of anyone. He always chose to see the good in people – never the bad. He was the living embodiment of what Jesus meant when he said we are to “love our neighbor as ourself”.

Chad and his wife, Andrea, along with his mother, Meredith, were tragically killed in a car accident leaving behind 3 beautiful girls: Hannah, Meredith, and Katie

This is for them…

I cannot express, in any meaningful way, the depths to which my heart aches for you. To lose both parents so suddenly and at such a critical moment in your lives – when you are just starting to find your way as adults – is a tragedy that even Shakespeare would find too heartbreaking for words.

It is at times like these when we ask ourselves… why? Why would God give you two parents that loved you, cared for you and provided for you only to snatch them away without warning?

It would certainly be understandable then if you turned away from Him. Felt anger towards Him. After all, who needs a god that would bring us such misery?

But if we ask ourselves why we are given the bad, then shouldn’t we also ask, “Why does God give us anything good?”

Why would God, in a single august moment, create light with an explosion so cataclysmic that the heavenly bodies are still careening through the universe like bits of shrapnel? Why would God choose Earth as His place to bring forth life? And why would He create beautiful mountain vistas or doting mothers or the innocence of newborn babies?

Why would He give us any of these wonderful things that provide us with such joy and fill our lives with meaning?

Why would He do this for us? 

If Earth is but a speck of dust set against the backdrop of the vast expanses of the universe, what are we? Why do we deserve to be shown such special consideration?

And if we can’t answer that question – if we don’t know why God would choose to bless us so richly at times – then maybe we should have faith that moments such as these – moments that cry out to heaven under their unbearably heavy sorrow – serve a larger purpose that we don’t understand.

I try to explain the relationship between me and God the same way I explain the relationship between me and my dog.

My dog is fairly intelligent as dogs go, but try as I might, I can’t teach her Algebra. I can open the book in front of her. I can make her sit while I show her how to work through equations. I can do this every day of mine and that dog’s life, but she’ll never “solve for X”.  

She can’t. It’s above her understanding.

In the same way, we’ll never understand the ways of God. We’ll never understand why God took your mom and dad and your grandmother from you. 

And because of this, you’ll never find peace or comfort or joy asking yourself why and being angry at your Creator.

Trust me. There’s no joy to be found in anger.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s okay to be angry with God for a season. It is natural to wonder why He would bring you such despair, but do not dwell on these things.

As the psalmist says, “weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” 

Your parents wanted you to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives. They wanted you to grow, graduate, go on to get married, have a successful career if you want it, and fill your lives with the joys of loved ones and family.

How do I know this? Because this is what we all want for our children. This is what God wants for us as well.

“To everything, there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which has been planted.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

You are in the midst of a season of sorrow: a sorrow greater than any you have ever known. But know that it is not intended for this season to last forever. Your parents wanted and expected more from you than that.

As hard as it may be, you are called to get up every morning, get dressed, go about the business of life – going to school, going to work, whatever it is – and finding the joy that God, your parents, and your grandmother intended you to find.

It may not seem like it now, but the pain won’t always sting as sharp. Joy will come again and don’t feel guilty when it does. Know that that is what your parents wanted. Honor their memory by embracing it.