A Time To Review #6

Mourning Vs. Dancing

Last week we looked at the seasons of mourning and dancing.  Everyone's had a week to digest it so let's dive in and see how these two seasons compare and find out if you are in one of them.  Click on Mourning or Dancing to get a refresher on the two items.

What makes them similar?

Mourning and dancing both come out of major events in our lives.  When we lose someone dear to us, that can understandably send us into a season of mourning.  Conversely, if someone we know gets the Holy Ghost, we immediately go into a season of dancing and exuberant celebration (or we should).  Obviously, one of these is a low (or loss) season while the other is a high (or gain) season.  If you need a refresher on what loss and gain seasons are, click here. 

Do we mourn too much? Do we dance enough?

It seems that people gravitate towards mourning more than dancing.  Its easier to stay in the pits than to get to a peak in life.  Also, being in mourning for an extended period of time, we get comfortable with our sorrow, almost like it becomes a close friend.  Meanwhile, dancing is very uncomfortable for most because it requires us to get out of our comfort zone. 

The danger of mourning too long is that we will become so comfortable in it that we never come out.  If we stay in a season of loss too long, we'll watch all of our gains wither and die around us.  Likewise, if we never embrace the dancing opportunities in our lives, we miss out on giving God our best praise, which leads to greater blessings.  So we need to learn to let go our mourning and the things attached to it when the time comes and its appropriate, and we need to make sure we don't miss out on those times of dancing because they are precious and draw us closer to God in praise.

So what do you think of these two seasons?  Are you currently in a mourning season or are you itching to break out in a dance over something God has done for you?  Let us know in the comments so we can join in the joy with you or encourage you in your time of pain.  It might be that intermingling the dancers with the mourners we might see some happiness, peace and joy come into those in mourning.