Tough Times Always Lead to God’s Grace

Today’s reading: James 1:2-5

1980 was tough for my family. My grandfather, uncle and cousin died within a few weeks of each other in the spring of that year.

I was just 12, and I couldn’t entirely comprehend the pain others in my family were feeling.  In fact, I remember being very startled when my mother ventured to teach me one day that my grandfather’s death probably led directly to my uncle’s.

“He was very close to his father,” she said. “He took Grandpa’s death very hard, and that’s probably what killed him.”

My grandfather’s death came relatively quickly, during a two-or-three week stay in the hospital. But he was at least 80 years old, so it did not come as a surprise. My uncle, meanwhile, was just in his 50’s when a heart condition became fatal.  His death was a shock to hundreds.

My mother was not alone in her hypothesis that my uncle had been too emotionally weak at the loss of his father to put up a fight against his heart disease. And all of this sad talk of his quick decline after Grandpa’s funeral became an important revelation for me. It was the first time I realized mental outlook and physical health are, indeed, connected.

Today’s reading brings to my uncle’s struggle to mind again.

“My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” (Verses 2-4)

It’s sad to consider that those words did not reach my uncle during his last few days. Still today, when I think of my uncle — whose career as a musician and radio and TV personality remains a marvel to me — I wish he had been able to turn his despair into, say, a deep joy at Grandpa’s uplifting funeral, which brought dear family and friends together again for long-awaited healing.  It’s troubling to  think of how much I never had the chance to learn from my uncle, just a few years after his death, when I ventured into the show-biz world myself.

But, then, I did learn from him.

My uncle’s experience helped assure that the words from today’s reading will never be lost upon me.  Thanks to his struggle, I now fully understand the danger of emotional distress.

In the years since 1980, I have definitely seen my share of tough times. But, by pausing to remember the physical consequences of remaining distraught (in otherwords, remaining seperate from God), I have been able to persevere in every case.   And, as I look upon these “struggles” from afar,  I realize that they were never quite as bad as they seemed at the time.

Thanks be to God for the life, and ultimately joyful lesson, of my Uncle Joe.  May his spirit continue dancing with God forever, and may I never let that celebration end.