Psalms offers surprising twists and turns and a picture of the world where circumstance is constantly moving through seasonal transitions. Today will not look like tomorrow. Psalm 30 sings a song which moves from darkness to light, as the Psalmist is surprised by joy as God fulfills promises of faithfulness. If we hold our circumstance up to the light of God’s love, our sorrow creates the space for deep joy in the midst of struggle.

As Kahlil Gibran writes in The Prophet, “Then a woman said, ‘Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.’ And he answered: Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? Some of you say, ‘Joy is greater than sorrow,’ and others say, ‘Nay, sorrow is the greater.” But I say unto you, they are inseparable.”