Joy and Pain…

For the past couple of weeks since Evanna’s gotten home from Seattle Children’s I’ve been thinking of this topic (Pain vs Hope) and how to express it. Today this picture popped up on Instagram as I was scrolling through…and there it was.

So often it seems that we think that if there’s pain, there’s not hope; and if there’s hope, there’s no pain. Both are completely off-base, and the two aren’t in direct conflict, vying for position in or control of our hearts. It is completely possible, I’d say, for a heart to be at once fully pained AND fully joyful…the last several weeks have convinced me of that.

The pain of Evanna’s conditions and possible prognoses, and the position we’ve been put in to choose between treatments, doesn’t diminish because of the joy she brings us with even the simplest of smiles and the sparkle in her eyes. Nor does the joy she brings us diminish the pain. Neither emotion is dependent on the other.

In the picture above, Romans 12:12 reminds us of exactly that…they aren’t either/or choices, but instructions or reminders. Be joyful, because there is hope. Be patient, because there is affliction and pain. And pray in both cases.

“when pain is to be born, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

And if you haven’t been following Evanna’s journey, where have you been?  😉
It’s at FB.com/EvannasJoy

For the past couple of weeks since Evanna’s gotten home from Seattle Children’s I’ve been thinking of this topic (Pain vs Hope) and how to express it. Today this picture popped up on Instagram as I was scrolling through…and there it was. So often it seems that we think that if there’s pain, there’s not…