“In this crazy world, there’s an enormous distinction between good times and bad, between sorrow and joy. But in the eyes of God, they’re never separated. Where there is pain, there is healing. Where there is mourning, there is dancing. Where there is poverty, there is the kingdom.”
– Henri Nouwen

I read that quote about a week ago, and it has taken a while to sink in. I got to thinking about Nouwen’s words as I thought again about the movie Lori and I saw last week with our dear friends Nancy and Frank. The movie was ‘Showtimes for Same Kind of Different as Me’. Thought-provoking, and based on a true story of lives and attitudes changed. There was pain, mourning and poverty. But there was also tremendous healing, dancing and the kingdom of God. Hmm. Sounds like the Book of Psalms.

Maybe above all, as I think on those words from Nouwen, I need to remember how much I need to keep my eyes on God. If I lose sight of Him, if I do not meditate on His Word or walk in the counsel of His earthly saints, I will miss out on so much because I can easily be focused on the here and now. Amidst pain I will lose sight of the healing that can come from it. While mourning, I will have no hope of dancing. And where there is poverty I will not see His Kingdom.

I go back to when Denver Moore, one of the main characters in the film/story, says, “The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or something in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless – just workin our way toward home”. And that is perhaps the best news you and I can have.

Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Isaiah 42: 6-7 – “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”