Contradictions?

These few days have been such happy days for me that I feel a little worried that I'm going to burst with happiness or forget the Source of all my happiness. Today the speaker in church said, "When you're happy, God whispers; when you're sad, God shouts." I just hope that I will always be aware in my happiness that I still have to keep my ears open!

One of the Beatitudes says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." And in Ecclesiates it says, "Sorrow is better than happiness, for a sad face is good for the heart."

Somewhere else in Proverbs it says, "A merry heart does good like a medicine.", and Ecclesiastes says again, "Therefore I commend mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry."

Is there a contradiction there? Some might say so. But I don't think there is. I think the heart of it all lies in Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 8 ...

There is a time for everything, and a time for every season under heaven.
A time to give birth, and a time to die.
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to tear down, and a time to build up.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain,
A time to search, and a time to give up,
A time to keep, and a time to throw away,
A time to tear and a time to mend;
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Even in the midst of laughter and dancing, there is a time to mourn; a time when you're silent and realise that there is so much more you can do for the people around you, a time when you look at yourself and see that you are truly nothing, weak and helpless; a time when you look in sorrow at your selfish motivations - like filthy rags - and commit yourself to Him in tears; to ask Him to be the only one you can lean on, and to ask Him to help you in your weakness.