Joy

Joy.

Is it possible to live a joyful life all the time?

What would that even look like?

Would you even want that?

Wouldn’t being in joy mean that I must be in denial about all the trials and difficulties of this world?

I contemplate this idea of joyful living as I look out at the panorama of life. I turn on the tv, look at the internet, listen to the pain of friends and family.

Where is the joy? Is it possible to feel it during all of this?

Yes.

Joy is possible.

Joy is a choice. It cannot be dependent upon what is happening or not happening around me.

The joy I’m talking about is not the kind of joy that we associate with celebrating or taking a Pollyanna view of life, where everything works out perfectly for everyone in the end.

The joy I’m talking about is the kind of joy that will carry you through that most difficult and painful of circumstance. This is the joy that doesn’t wait until the storm passes. This is the joy that believes in things unseen. This is the joy that will be able to listen to the hurting friend, the angry son, or the cries of the oppressed.

This kind of joy will hold the hand of the dying, hold the mother of the dying child, and will speak up for the rights of others.

This kind of joy believes that life is sacred.

This joy will pray for the mother of the son who was shot in the street.

This joy will believe that all people need to be treated like human beings.

The joy I’m talking about is the kind of joy that the saints that came before us told us about.

This is the joy that can literally save lives by being that hope that someone needs.

Joy is a lighthouse on the rocks of an abused and battered soul.

Joy is the anchor that will keep you from drifting away in your storm.

This is the kind of joy that I try to cultivate every day. It’s not an ignorance of the reality of life. It’s being in the storm and knowing that there is a shelter from the storm.

This kind of joy says that the storm that will come upon you will not overwhelm you.

You have this joy available to you today.

Right now.

If you find yourself in the middle of a storm right now, know that you are not alone. Know that you have not been forgotten. Know that you have not been abandoned.

The joy of life has not left you to be alone in your struggles.

The joy of life is the very essence of life.

The joy of life is the very Creator of life who holds and caresses your very soul.

Joy is not a feeling. It’s a truth. It’s a way of life. It’s a way of being. It’s life itself.

Know that as you go throughout this day that joy is with you. You may not be feeling joyful, but the essence of joy is with you, around you, as you, and a result of you.

Joy.

It’s who you are, what you embody, and what you came here to provide the world.