Inside Out

Last night we introduced our children to the movie, Inside Out.  Watching it again made me realize how much I love this movie.  For those of you not familiar with the movie, the main characters are actually a personification of the emotions that are going on in the head of an 11 year old girl, Riley.  Riley and her family have moved across country and she is dealing with the emotions that go along with this experience.  The main character is the emotion Joy.  She is always wanting Riley to be happy and works to do whatever she can to keep her happy.  On the other end of things, Sadness "messes up" everything.  Joy pushes Sadness away because she thinks that Sadness will hurt Riley, her memories, and cause her transition to the new home to be worse. 

Eventually Joy and Sadness meet another character who is sad.  Joy does what she can to try to cheer up this character and to help him move out of his grief, but he just sits and does not respond to her energy and attempts.  Sadness, on the other hand, comes over to this character, sits next to him, and says, "I'm sorry."  She allows him to have his moment of sadness and to release the emotion.  This character is able to go on after expressing his sadness and being understood. 

Later on, Joy is at a low point and she actually experiences sadness.  As she does, she realizes that Riley needs to also experience sadness in order to be able to move on and regain her joy.  Riley expresses her sadness and grief over the recent move to her parents.  As they talk it through, Riley begins to experience the deep joy that family, compassion, and support of others brings.

I love how this movie conveys the message that sadness is a positive, normal emotion and we do not need to be afraid and push it away.  Walking through our sadness and grief is part of being a healthy, joyful individual.   I also believe that we cannot experience true joy if we have not felt the depths of sadness.  Psalm 30:5 says, "For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.  Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning."  As a Christian, I must feel the depths of sorrow and sadness over my sin and over the brokenness of the world.  I must take time to grieve that I have turned from the Lord and that there is so much hurt and pain in the world.  This sorrow does not last forever, though, because God has granted us his blessing and joy through Jesus Christ.  If I had not first acknowledged the depth and darkness of my sin, I could not truly know the joy that God brings through his salvation in Jesus. 

Right now we are living in a very strange time of quarantine because of Covid-19.  There is a lot of sadness and grief in our world right now.  School has been closed, jobs have been lost, weddings have been postponed, loved ones have died without us being able to be with them, plans have been turned upside down, parents have been thrown into homeschooling and many stresses that come with that.  We do a disservice to ourselves if we simply try to put on a joyful face and say everything is ok without taking time to sit with our sadness and allow ourselves to mourn the losses and hurts we are feeling.  "Weeping may tarry for the night..."  It is ok to weep! 

The Psalmist (David) takes time to weep, but he also calls out to the Lord and receives a beautiful promise.  Read God's response to his sorrowful night: 

"You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.  O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever!"

What joy the Psalmist now knows after his night of weeping!  God took that sorrow and turned it into a party!  There is dancing, gladness, and singing going on!  David can truly praise God because he has felt the depth of sadness first and then experienced the mercy of God in bringing healing and comfort to him.  God used that in his life to bring true joy and thanksgiving offered to God forever! 

Whatever situations we are in right now, we must remember that our sadness is temporary.  God is working in us to bring joy so that we may worship God forever!