Have you ever noticed how closely joy and sorrow are intertwined in our lives? You just can’t separate them, though you may wish you could and though you try pretty hard. The Christmas gathering was fun, but you missed Grandpa, who won’t be coming to holiday gatherings anymore. Your kid graduated from high school (hurray!) but did not get accepted to the college she wanted (arrgh!). You got the promotion (yay!), but it did not come with a pay raise (sigh). 

It’s not just you who’s cursed with this phenomenon—it is universal: “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and rejoicing may end in grief” (Proverbs 14:13). Since with this insightful Scripture passage God pulled back the curtain a little on the absurdities of human life, you can be a little more prepared and not sink into such disappointment when it seems as though there’s a fly in every bowl of soup you are served in life.

We all so badly want heaven on earth, but alas, heaven will come only in heaven. For now, so many things are broken on earth that we should anticipate disappointments and not let our spirits be crushed. The trick is to let your mind dwell on the blessings God is giving you and not obsess over what you don’t have or what went wrong.

And when you are enjoying the friends God sends you, your griefs will seem only half as heavy and your joys twice as great.