Very few Americans are unfamiliar with this renowned LIFE photo. Those who were not alive think back to the end of WWII with bemused nostalgia, thinking that it was just one big party, coast to coast. I know this was my thought for many years, until I had the privilege of meeting people who had served in the European theater. Over 400,000 servicemen and women died during WWII and some 600,000 came home injured. That’s over 1 million individuals whose families were irrevocably changed as a direct result of the ravages of war. The din of celebration was intermingled with the cries of those who mourned great loss. As in the “first” world war, the luster of victory was tarnished by the immensity of the devastation. So it was in Israel.

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:12-13, ESV)

Due to their disobedience, God had allowed Israel to lose at war and to be deported to another country. Many had survived and returned to their homeland and began to rebuild. The foundation of a new temple was placed and as the structure began taking shape the children of the survivors shouted for joy over the accomplishment. Those who remembered the immense loss of life, of property, of relationship to their God wept equally loudly so that it was impossible to distinguish the joy from the sorrow.

A window into our world: joy and sorrow intermingled, oft indiscernible. Those who are in the lightness of the moment think tears are unreasonable. Those who carry the weight of remembrance resent the laughs of triumph. This is reality.

How can we survive such a living contradiction without the God whose loving-kindness endures forever?: the God who both carries the teardrops of the bereaved and causes the sun to shine on the revelers.

For the reality of this God I am joyful even in the midst of sorrow, for he is big enough for both.