The wise book of Ecclesiastes says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Weeping and laughter, mourning and joy, are both alike parts of a reasonable and, in the best sense, natural life; and the Bible, speaking in its divine breadth to the whole nature of man, sanctions and hallows and elevates both alike. All common joy, all common sorrow, are in God's eyes right and good when they do not come from sinful causes. But in proportion to the worthiness of their occasions, and the guilelessness of heart with which we receive them, do they rise up to that highest joy and that highest sorrow which are born within us when we set before our minds God and Christ, and the whole breadth of His redeeming work, and our own standing before Him, our weakness, our sin, and our restoration to the heaven of filial communion with Him.

Now in Lent the darker side of our own life is brought forcibly before our minds. Neither now nor at any time, thank God, are we required or even allowed to forget the infinite grace shown in all God's dealings with us, the glory of the children of God. But for the time we move chiefly in shadow, though we do not forget the light beyond.