“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”  [Romans 12:15]

I have folders set up on my computer in which to file things. I have a folder labeled “Devotions” and sub-folders set up by years. One labeled “sermons and seminars” another labeled “financial information” and others for pictures, recipes and correspondence. But the folder that is perhaps the most unusual is labeled “weddings and funerals.”

Weddings and funerals are hardly similar items and I’m not sure why I keep both in the same folder, except that perhaps weddings and funerals are the most intensely personal and touching of all events. At a wedding we rejoice with those who rejoice. At a funeral, we mourn with those who mourn. At these events we participate in the joys and in the sorrows of others.

True love will interest us in both the joys and the sorrows of those with whom we come in contact. Every day we meet some who are full of joy and others who are consumed with sorrow. In this world, at any given time, some are laughing and some are weeping. It is part of the human condition.

When trouble strikes others, we are to be concerned and ready to help. We are to be touched by their hurts. If possible, we are to lend a hand. Often the most precious thing we can do is simply cry with them. We can’t always fix things. We’d like too, but often there is no solution. The most human, the most God-like thing we can do, is simply to sit quietly with them, love them, hold them, pray for them, and cry with them.

May I say also that often it is easier to relate to another’s sorrows than it is to rejoice with another’s joys?  When we see others experiencing the comfort, success, prosperity that we too desire but do not have, it can be easy to become resentful or envious. Yet here we are commanded to rejoice.

In my computer folder I keep words of joy spoken at weddings, and words of sorrow and comfort from funerals. In my heart, I am to hold joy for those who rejoice and mourn with those who cry.