Faith Matters | Be cheerful. Never forget to celebrate the ‘little hallelujahs’ in life

Easter was great. It always is. For followers of Jesus Christ, there is no bigger day than the day that we celebrate the Resurrection – of his conquering of death and sin. Usually Easter is one of those days where the world attempts to take a deep breath and not completely fall apart for 24 hours. But, at least here in Manatee County, that was not meant to be as we all watched the on-going disaster that is Piney Point. So much for even a Holy pause.

Before you stop reading because you’re concerned that this is about politics or the environment, I assure you it is not. This is an article about finding the little hallelujahs in the midst of all the heavy stuff around us. In Proverbs 17:22 we read, “a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.” A friend reminded me of this the other day, as the incessant wear and tear of the world seemed to be leading to the doldrums.

It makes sense that a downcast spirit dries up the bones. It’s hard to feel alive when you are consistently down and, let’s get real, the world has felt pretty down for quite some time now. While it’s been hard to avoid, no one is requiring us to dwell on being down. To the contrary, we see an antidote to that is a cheerful heart.

There’s a risk here of understanding the idea of having a cheerful heart as slapping a band-aid on our struggles, brushing off the dirt, and just getting on with it. That’s not what the scripture is saying. If we dwell on all that is wrong or broken, it will consume us. And we can push back against that by being intentional about looking for the little hallelujahs: little moments of unexpected joy and grace that perhaps we’ve never really thought about or just took for granted.

Here are some in my own life: My youngest always wants to give me her first kiss in the morning because she says it is the sweetest and wants mommy to have it. Somebody actually let me into traffic on Cortez Road yesterday. I remembered to water my Christmas cactus before it reached the brink of death. The rain didn’t begin to fall last Sunday until after our last service. I got a chance to speak with a dear friend before she left for Reserve duty. Not one single person in my household asked me to find their shoes before school this morning.

I realize those aren’t necessarily things that typically make the newspaper or the evening news. I’m not even sure they’d make our annual Christmas letter. But each one sparked a little joy in my heart.

Again, it’s not the full-on exhilaration of Easter, but just a spark … a little light in the darkness to remind me that there’s still life and it’s still worth passionately pursuing. That little spark, the little hallelujah, can turn into a radiant glow and joyful praise because it sparks the memory that God is still at work in the world and that Christ is still risen!

Faith Matters is written by members of the clerical community in the Bradenton area. Rev. Hope Italiano Lee is the lead pastor at Kirkwood Presbyterian Church in Bradenton, www.bigreenchurch.org.