“Laughing is hard work when you are crying” by Martin Luther

“In happy times Christians rejoice and sing: ‘I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth’ (Psalm 31:1). In fact, even reason and the flesh are glad then and praise the mercy and the goodness of God.

But in times of sadness the song of the Christians is mixed with weeping, lamenting, and complaining. Half of the time they are crying, and half of the time they are singing. Laughing is hard work when you are crying.

Nevertheless, we must hold on to the fact that God does not desert His own, no matter what evil may oppress them.”

–Martin Luther, What Luther Says: An Anthology, comp. Ewald M. Plass (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), entry no. 3967, p. 1244.