Sorrows Like Sea Billows

Have you ever kept yourself from crying because you just knew that if you started it might not stop? That's me this morning. Everything within me wants to just weep. I don't mean just a few tears, I'm talking about the kind of sobbing that involves the entire body. You see, a friend of mine died yesterday. He fought a very hard 8 month battle with stomach cancer and leaves behind a young wife and infant son. Life on this earth is not fair and sometimes it just downright stinks. Understand my sobbing is not for him, but for his wife and son. I am certain he now resides in Heaven without cancer and therefore I have great joy for him. The extreme sorrow I feel is for his family. As a mother to a little boy who adores his daddy, my heart absolutely breaks at the thought that this little boy won't have his daddy to play with, learn from and adore. As a wife who is madly in love with her husband, my heart bleeds for this young woman.

For as long as I can remember I've always used music as an outlet for my emotions. Of course this is not a new concept. The Bible, along with other ancient texts, shows much evidence that this has been a practice of people for many centuries. Most beloved hymns were written out of trials or sorrows and are rich with comfort through truth. Since learning of my friend's death I have been continually singing the words to the hymn, "It Is Well." The hymn-writer knew great sorrow before penning the words to this hymn. His wife and daughters had just died in a tragic accident at sea. He opens his hymn with the following words:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Isn't it interesting that he compares peace to a body of water? I recently learned a little bit about rivers through a Bible study I am in the midst of completing. Rivers aren't really all that peaceful but instead are quite active. Perhaps that is this hymn-writer's point. He knew having peace in his life was a result of an active relationship with Jesus. Furthermore, rivers are always connected to 2 other bodies of water- a source and an outlet. And so it is with peace, it must be connected to a source. The final thought on rivers and peace would be the fact that it is impossible to see the source and the outlet of a river at one time. Unlike an average sized lake, where the boundaries can all be seen in one panoramic sweep, a river's end cannot be seen from a river's beginning. I think peace is much the same way. At the beginning of a trial or season of sorrow we cannot see the end, but if there is a beginning there will be an ending.

A seldom sung, yet beautiful verse from the aforementioned hymn seems the most fitting way to close this post.

For me be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live
If Jordan above me shall roll
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul
-Horatio Spafford