Daily Devotions

When we were expecting our first child, my husband and I decorated the nursery with a Winnie-the-Pooh theme. Of course, then our daughter received all the books and stuffed animals as gifts! What I hadn’t realized before rereading the books to her, was that each of the characters in Winnie-the-Pooh taught about different ways of approaching the world.

Pooh was wise and compassionate, even if he was just a “silly old bear.” Piglet, though small, had hidden reserves of courage. Tigger was an exuberant optimist and Eeyore was an exhausted pessimist. As our kids grew up, we often referred to people who seemed to major in misery and minor in joy as being more like Eeyore in their interaction with the world.

Now we all have felt like Eeyore at some point, or even many times in life! Life can be hard and unfair and frustrating. In our Bible reading for today, Psalm 30 acknowledges this fact. David certainly didn’t have an easy life! King Saul tried to murder him multiple times; David had to flee to the wilderness on his wedding night and didn’t see his wife again for years; David’s relatives made his life miserable with their murderous habits and his sons tried to sideline him and grab his throne. And that’s the short list!

Yet David understood that night always turns into morning, that tears turn to joy, that mourning turns into dancing, because that is how God works. Life with God moves from sadness to delight because God loves and wants only the very best for us. Even when we need to be corrected, God’s anger lasts just for a moment but his love lasts for a lifetime.

David lived the good, bad, and ugly parts of life knowing God was intimately involved in each and every moment. David learned that mourning or weeping was not the end of his story because he was a part of a bigger story; he was a part of God’s story.

When we let God into our story, he helps us move from an attitude like Eeyore to an attitude like Tigger!

Questions for reflection: