Joy pursues us throughout our lives. Sometimes we will not allow it to catch us. We feel that our sorrows are too serous to experience joy; it would diminish or deny our pain, preventing us from feeling or working on the sad things. Not true! Life is not joy or sorrow; it is joy and sorrow. If you refuse the overtures of joy, waiting for no sorrow, you cheat yourself immeasurably. Joy is all around us. A smile, a child, a game, a bird, a flower, a fragrance, a friend, a funny conversation, a sunset, a mountain, a stream, a meadow and much more. Then, there is the joy that comes from the Spirit. It is a special joy, for it has God’s glory in it.
Oh, God of Abraham, Laughter and Jacob, thank you for putting joy in our lives and on our trail. You have sent joy so we can “Go out with joy” (Isaiah 55:12) to meet life in the glad and sad ways it contains. Thank you, Father, for being at the very heart of our joy. Amen
