Brighter

 

At the ball park in St. Louis, every time the home team scores they celebrate with fireworks. It is fun and exciting and helps to keep the fans fired up about the game. It is such a dramatic scene against the sky, the different colors of the explosions and the wild trails of smoke that streak the night.

At this particular game, there were no fireworks inning after inning. The other team was ahead 5-0 past the midpoint of the game. But suddenly, the Cardinals came to life! They scored. And scored. And scored. The people in charge of the fireworks were suddenly very, very busy. And the fans went wild each time they lit up the sky. The experience was all the more sweeter because it was such a long time coming.

Sometimes our experiences in life can be made all the sweeter because of what went before. Long years of hard work to pay our way through school makes graduation all the better. The freedom from pain that comes after long suffering makes each moment of life a more appreciated gift. Success after failing in our career makes us appreciate our work even more. Finding love after loss deepens our desire to love in return.

John writes, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” Jesus knew the pain the disciples would experience upon his death. He knew the struggle they would have to hold on to their faith in the face of what was ahead. But he also knew that the joy of the resurrection would transform them into the kind of people who could go out and turn the world upside down. It was the struggle that would lead them to such a full embrace of life. It was the longing that would be give them a love for all the world.

The disciples did not start out being those kinds of people. But when they got it, they got it. They exploded across the sky like those long silent fireworks, all the brighter for the struggle. All the brighter for the waiting. All the brighter for the world.

The same can be true for each of us. Perhaps our waiting is at work in us for greater things as well.

Peace.