photo credit: Brian Lane Winfield Mo

Joy is the feeling of grinning inside.

— Melba Colgrove

As I continue with my Lenten practice of listening to 15 minutes of a book on spiritual development every day, I came across an interesting idea.  John Ortberg in The Life You’ve Always Wanted points out that it is a serious responsibility that we find joy in life.  Although I’ve heard this before – I have listened to this book – for some reason, I didn’t notice it when I listened before.

This is the author who wrote about the Dee Dah Day, which I remember fondly for the lesson it taught me – be in the moment NOW!  Yet somehow, I missed the larger point – God wants me to be joyful.  Boy, have I got a long way to go!

In Defense of Not Being Really Joyful

To be fair, the last year hasn’t been a bed of roses.  It’s actually been a real downer, and it occurs to me that part of this may be because I’ve been in denial about life in general and my life in particular.  Maybe you have been too…

• Did you expect that your 401K would be decimated so close to retirement?
• Did you believe that if you followed the rules it would all be OK?
• Did you expect that your kids would move out SOMEDAY?
• Did you expect your folks to move in with you SOMEDAY?
• Did you expect that you’d all be living together, three generations under YOUR roof?

According to Ortberg, circumstances aside, we are to be joyful, TODAY!  So, since this is Lent, I decided I better start giving some serious thought to joy.

What is Joy?

According to Lewis B. Smedes in his article Joy of the Outer and Inner Self, “Joy is an intermezzo of gratitude that interrupts the routine motion of life.”  There it is again, that word, “gratitude.”  In other words, God wants us to be seriously aware of our lives and grateful for the wonderful things around us.  He wants us to be aware enough that we “interrupt” our routine.

Ortberg gives a hilarious example of how God would have created the world if he thought and acted like we sometimes do:

In the beginning it was 9:00, so God had to go to work.  He filled out a requisition to separate light from darkness.  He considered making stars to beautify the night and planets to fill the skies, but thought it sounded like too much work; and besides, thought God, “That’s not my job.”  So he decided to knock off early and call it at day.  And he looked at what he had done and he said, “It’ll have to do.”

Ortberg continues in this vein through the entire creation scenario ending with:

And at the end of the week, God was seriously burned out.  So he breathed a big sigh of relief and said, “Thank Me, it’s Friday.”

But Ortberg has another view of how God views the wonders of his world.  Perhaps, he is so pleased with his creation that every day, he says “Do it again.” like a little kid who asks you to twirl them around and around until you’re both sick.  Do it again, Mommy.  He looks at his creation and sees that it is very good.

Look and See

And that is part of the key to joy – look and see.  Earlier I suggested a short list of reasons why we aren’t joyful.  Yes, all those things may be true for you and me, but even so there are many reasons to be joyful.

Recently, we received word that a member of our immediate BouncebackCafe.com family is in full remission after having been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer.  He went from 57 tumors to ZERO through the miracles of surgery and chemotherapy.  Until he got the good news, I had forgotten that I had another friend who had cancer of the connective tissues – millions of tiny tumors throughout her body – who has been in remission for five years.  Both are miracles – perhaps of modern medicine, but miraculous just the same.  Yet, I forgot.  Look and see!

In the last couple of months, we have learned that my father is bipolar.  You might think that this is horrible but actually it explains so much about our family history.  Also, the effort to deal with the craziness that has been the last couple of months has brought us kids closer together than I ever thought possible and Dad is happier than we’ve ever seen him.  Another miracle – better living through chemistry.  Look and see!

As we go through the routines of our lives, we miss so much.  We don’t pay attention to sources of joy all around us.  We worry.  We fret.  We wish things were different.  Perhaps we would feel better if we woke up to the here and now.

Look and see the joy all around you!