I found myself in the book of Ezra this morning. Something in the third chapter caught my attention.  There’s this remarkable scene where shouts of joy and cries of sorrow are rising together before God. I was reminded of times in my own life when either I praised God in a storm or when praise for someone meant pain for another and both were turning to God in joy and sorrow,  respectively.

In Ezra 3, the foundation of the new temple had been laid, and it was a moment worth celebrating. After years in exile, God’s people were rebuilding what had been lost. The younger generation praised loudly, filled with hope for the future. “They sang with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord: ‘For he is good; his faithful love to Israel endures forever.’ Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s house had been laid.” (Ezra 3:11)

But for others, especially those who remembered Solomon’s grand temple, the moment stirred a different response. Their weeping was not a rejection of the new, but a grieving of what once was. “But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple, but many others shouted joyfully.” (Ezra 3:12)

What a beautiful and honest picture of worship.

We often think we need to have it all together before coming into God’s presence. But Ezra 3 reminds us that God welcomes both our joy and our sorrow. God doesn’t ask us to silence one or the other. He’s not overwhelmed by our mixed emotions. Instead, God receives them as worship.

The same God who gave peace to a people caught between grief and gratitude still meets us today. He invites us to bring our pain into His presence, not to be shamed or silenced, but to be seen, comforted, and renewed. And you know what?  In the middle of our mixed bag of feelings, God offers peace in unexpected places, in beginnings that don’t look like what we imagined, in foundations that feel smaller than our memories.

So today, whether you find yourself rejoicing or weeping, or doing both at once, know this: God is near. His love endures. And He is building something new, even if it looks different than before.

Happy Thursday, friends. May this day be one where you share God’s love, experience the grace of Jesus Christ, and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.