JOY IN THE RAIN...

LITTLE BRAIN THOTS
I have few childhood memories stronger than listening to a certain children's recording entitled Let's Fly to the Moon.  This memory dates back to somewhere in the mid 1960's... before text messaging, iPods, or ear buds... before high speed internet, DVD's, CD's, or cassette tapes.  It was the era of the 33 and 1/3 record, and I had just received one as a gift... it was mine!

I've been looking for this album
for years... finally found this copy
on eBay for $1.00!

I remember sitting for hours, 
memorizing each line as I played 
it over and over again... 

all the while etching the fresh images permanently on my mind's canvas.  
Stories of Pinocchio, Peter Pan... 
and my favorite, 
 
The Monkey Who Wanted to Fly

"One day in the park, the girls and the boys, could hear a most pitiful cry.  
And who do you think
was making that noise?  
A monkey who wanted to fly!

I try to make wings, from all sorts of things,
I flap them and aim for the sky,
I make the right sound, and zoom off the ground,
but I crash for I can't seem to fly!

Well Tony you see, was partners with me,

a fine hurdy gurdy he'd play.

And I would hold up, my little tin cup,

we made a fine living that way.

Then Tony said he, could do without me,
although I shall never know why.
So here on the limb, I cry about him,
for what monkey business have I?

We'll come every day, we'll sing and we'll play,

and help you pretend it's old times.

You'll hold your tin cup, and we'll fill it up

with pennies and nickels and dimes.

And then one thing more, we'll go to the store,

a toy hurdy-gurdy to buy.

And you'll be our pet.  We're glad that we met

a monkey who wanted to fly!

Even to this day, all I need to do is shut my eyes, start the memorized lines, recall the pictures... and I'm there once again...

 

But, just like in Peter Pan, I grew up...  Well, as we all find out eventually, adult life can be very tough... as if struggles within the normal roles in marriage, parenting, and one's career are not enough, pain, disease, and death are lurking around every corner... it WILL suck the joy out of you in a flash... BUT, ONLY IF YOU LET IT!

BIG BRAIN THOTS
"The joy of the Lord is your strength." (Neh 8:10). Where do saints get their joy? If we did not know some Christians well, we might think from just observing them that they have no burdens at all to bear. But we must lift the veil from our eyes. The fact that the peace, light and joy of God is in the is proof that a burden is there as well. The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces wine, but most of us only see the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the spirit of God living within the living spirit; it creates an inner invincibility. If your life is only producing a whine and not a wine, then ruthlessly kick it out. It is definitely a crime for a Christian to be weak in God's strength." - Oswald Chambers

"Christians rejoice even while they truly sorrow - - because their rejoicing is in the hope of heaven....While joy overcomes sorrow, it does not put an end to it." - John Calvin

"When was the last time you laughed for the sheer joy of your salvation? People are not attracted to somber doctrines. There is no persuasive power in a gloomy and morbid religion. Let the world see your joy and you won't be able to keep them away. To be filled with God is to be filled with joy" -  Anonymous

"The most valuable thing the Psalms do for me is to express the same delight in God which made David dance." C. S. Lewis

"It is an unfortunate thing for the Christian to be melancholy. If there is any man in the world that has a right to have a bright, clear face and a flashing eye, it is the man whose sins are forgiven him, who is saved with God's salvation." - Charles Spurgeon

"Your sorrow itself shall be turned into joy. Not the sorrow to be taken away, and joy to be put in it's place, but the very sorrow which now grieves you shall be turned into joy. God not only takes away the bitterness and gives sweetness in it's place, but turns the bitterness into sweetness itself." - Charles Spurgeon (on John 16:33)

"Sorrow for sin should be the keenest sorrow; joy in the Lord should be the loftiest joy. - Charles Spurgeon (on Phillipians 4:4)