Wisdom in the House of Mourning

"It is better to go to a house of mourning

Than to go to a house of feasting,

Because that is the end of every man,

And the living takes it to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter, 

For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.

The mind of fools is in the house of pleasure."

Ecclesiastes 7:3-4

A strange scripture? It never seemed strange to me. I have experienced it! When I was 18, my mother's father died. She adored him, but their relationship had become strained. She had separated herself from her parents and the aunts and uncles she grew up around, thinking they would judge her for her life choices. She believed she had let them down.

At the funeral home, I saw my mother glowing, receiving love from all those people. In her deep grief, she was comforted. She was happy. She was loved. Accepted. She was home. In that house of mourning, wisdom was there. She saw love and forgiveness. She saw God in a way she had not seen Him before. This wisdom and joy had been missing from all the parties she loved. This was real.  I didn't know about Ecclesiastes 7 then, but I knew my mother saw things in the right way in her place of mourning.

I saw wisdom again when my dad's mother died suddenly. He saw the reality that any of us could die today, and it frightened him. He saw the end of every man, and vowed to meet with the pastor and change his life. He was wiser in the funeral home than in the bar room. 

Last week I again saw wisdom in the house of mourning. You see, a house of mourning doesn't have to be a funeral home. It can be in our private prayer time. At our church altar. In any place and situation where we see His greatness and our weakness.

Our church gathered at the home of a young couple to pray. The husband had been diagnosed just days before with an inoperable brain tumor and given only a few months to live. What a blow to this family and to us who love them! But what wisdom was present there! In a room filled with over a hundred people, a hush fell as Clay shared about all God was showing Him in his own "house of mourning." He said he wanted only for God to be glorified through this, whatever the outcome. He said "I get it!" and everyone knew he was seeing something we don't see.

We, who were blessed to hear wisdom speak, hung on every word. Lord, let us take it to heart! Sorrow can be better than laughter if it brings us closer to God. 

I am grateful that we have a God who is the Healer, one who has given us more time to hear the wisdom Clay and Kristy are pouring out to us - really that He is pouring out to us through them. In our house of "mourning" let us take it to heart! Let us see You!