R.A.D.I.C.A.L. Thoughts

"Midnight in Nowhere ... could be a million towns ..."
Brian MacDonald song

A little after midnight tonight (about 12:30 EST), I'm going on a radio show called "Midnight in Nowhere." That name comes from a song by Brian MacDonald about the grieving of lost love ... and how often loss seems to be a part of so many lives and loves. When I first was asked to be on this show which is a call-in show on the east coast (Radio 830-WCRN), I thought they were joking. But it's a real live program designed for people who can't sleep because they are "suffering from sadness after a life-changing loss." They have a huge audience. After I heard the details of what they are doing, I gladly agreed, because I have spent more than a few "Midnights in Nowhere" myself during my midlife divorce recovery journey. Those nights you can't sleep, when you toss and turn in your bed, when you stare into the darkness are a gut-wrenching devastation. In those quiet, awful hours you are trying desperately to come to grips with your new situation. Those middle of the night hours are longer than hours in the day. The seconds tick by. But I want you to remember this. Your "mourning can turn to dancing... your crying can turn to joy." As hard as it is to realize, those hours of mourning are refining you. They are helping you discover what is truly lasting ... what will not fail ... what can be counted on when everything else in your life is falling apart. That one unchanging constant is God. He did not cause this divorce. He hates divorce. He is a righteous and just God who will bring you back to joy .... if you let him. And the lessons we learn in the dark, the lessons of midnight teach us the surest lessons of all if we only trust them to do that. Let your weeping turn to joy. The morning can be more beautiful than you can even imagine ... and much of that is because of those awful midnights in nowhere where we are learning the truth about joy.

" ... weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning."
Psalm 30:5 (RSV)