“A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;”

Ecclesiastes 3:4

These two opposing states deal with emotion and the expression of it. There is a time for tears, but not all the time. There are seasons were tears seem to be our food and drink, and times when they are not far from the surface. The time of weeping may be a time of loss or of sorrow for us in our lives and the circumstances that we find ourselves in, and we may experience deep feeling of the sorrow we face. It con cause us to be in a state of mourning, which is the expression of that grief we feel. The time for these expressions is not forever and they do pass, but to go through them can be hurtful and painful for us. We don’t need to run away for it, even when they tears flow, for we know they will stop soon and it will help us to deal with the pain we are going through.

There are tears with are particularly good for us, the tears of repentance and the seeking of forgiveness from the Lord. God gives recompense of reward to those who experience these tears and this kind of mourning. His Spirit draws close to pour in the oil and the wine of forgiveness and spiritual healing. These times are good times for us as they produce good spiritual growth and keep us close to the Lord.

There are times for laughter and joy also. Times when life is good and our circumstances are helpful to us, make us feel good and we feel we are doing well and God is blessing us. There is a time for parties and joyousness and happy celebrations and God is good in allowing us to experience these blessings on our lives. It causes us to give thanks to the Lord for His many and varied blessings and lifts out soul to heaven and the thoughts that lead our psyche to rejoice in the Lord.

“ I will bless The LORD at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. My soul shall boast in The LORD. The humble shall hear of it, and be glad. Oh magnify The LORD with me. Let us exalt his name together. I sought The LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

Psalm 34:1-4

It is good to give outward expression to our emotions and not to hide ourselves away from them and from other people. We can find ourselves loosing our feelings and eventually not being able to relate to other people at all. We stop feeling the down side of emotion, but also stop feeling the upward side of emotion too. We don’t deal with our feelings and are unable to deal with other people’s feeling either. We stop sympathising and empathising with others in their troubles and joys and find ourselves outside of emotion completely.

Our hearts can become very hard and we shut people out from us, even our nearest and dearest. There are times that people, shut us out, but we do not reply in kind. We wait for the restoring hand of God and know that He does all things well. We may have times of sadness and mourning, but the happiness, laughter and dancing will come in due season.