According to Merriam-Webster, these are the definitions of joy: (n) 1 - a feeling of great happiness or pleasure; 2 - the expression or exhibition of such emotion; 3 - a state of great happiness; 4- a state of great happiness; (v) to experience great pleasure or delight.
Here’s my struggle: when the Bible talks about joy, it is not a feeling or emotion. Joy is not only a state of mind, it is also a window to our souls. You see when Jesus talked about joy, He wasn’t talking about whether or not He was happy versus sad, but it was a consistent state of being that He received because He was in constant communion with His Father. Gosh, I want that! Right? A consistent and constant state of contentment.
What sucks is our culture has told us that HAPPINESS looks a certain way - circumstances, people, things, jobs, etc. And we’re so focused on finding happiness, aka a FEELING that is good and not feeling like crap, that we miss this opportunity for consistent joy.
Regrettably, or maybe frustratingly, this is where I find myself. And I can honestly say that I don’t think I had joy and then life got crazy and I lost it. I think the events of the last few years has brought to light how missing out on joy has dried up my soul. And it is weird and unsettling, because I never would have described myself as “unhappy,” which is what the first instinct seems to be whenever someone expresses something that doesn’t look like happiness or the world’s view of joy. I do not “feel” unhappy. As a good friend sometimes says, “I just kind of feel blah about things right now.”
When I pre-planned these blog post ideas, I 100% dreaded how quickly this one came upon me. I do not like thinking nor talking about this. And yet, as I am, I’m guessing it’s a subject that really needs to be delved into a bit more.
How many of us feel “blah” about life, but don’t know what to do about it?
And this is certainly not a how-to on finding joy. I am sharing my thoughts and what I think might help me as I try to focus on this a bit more, but I do feel the need to stress that everyone’s journey with joy is going to be different.
When I scrolled (yes on my phone) through the verses that were most popular for “joy,” 1 Peter 1:8-9 was not at the top. And I’ve thought about going back and choosing a different verse several times. I feel very convicted by this verse because how in the world did those first century Christians do it?!
I do love Jesus and I believe in Him. But gosh, where does the “rejoicing with inexpressible and glorious joy…” come in?
I do know enough about myself to understand what I am really struggling with is wanting a step-by-step guide on how to “correctly” display this joy. And while the Bible certainly has guidance, I always second guess myself into thinking I’m not doing enough. Not showing enough gratitude, not praising Him enough, not outspoken enough. I’ve always had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I am not Christian enough to experience this joy.
Oh the lies we believe, right?
Why are we so hard on ourselves? Where does that come from?
Am I expressing my frustrations with this adequately?
I know, in my head, what needs to be done and that it is very simple. Then, my heart and my feelings tell me to do more; to over complicate, over think and over compensate.
That. Is. Exhausting.
Here’s my goal this next month: find, recognize and share/celebrate the joys in my life.
Find - I do believe we need to make a habit of looking for AND wanting to find joy in each day.
Recognize - as in knowing joy is different than happy AND it is there when we slow down long enough to “see” it.
Sharing and Celebrating - this is something that our current Western Christianity does poorly AND I put myself in that group. I fear if I celebrate something it comes off as bragging or rubbing it in others’ faces or even naive to celebrate when the world seems so messed up. In the Bible there are literal commands to celebrate…let’s get a clue friends!
As I’m sitting here writing this, it dawned on me that maybe I am getting a little better at this. I shared and celebrated a joy today. I didn’t think of it in that way in that moment, but looking back that’s exactly what I did. I shared a photo of two people I love doing something they both love, together and I explained why and what I loved about that captured moment.
Volf ref crew
Two of my favorite guys do something the love, together.
And I think, when we slow down long enough to recognize and share these “random” thoughts, we are expressing praise and rejoicing to our Father God because we are acknowledging that He planned all of that. He created those two human beings, and gave them a love for this activity and the opportunity to work at it together…I mean, if that isn’t master planning than I don’t know what is!
Let’s not overcomplicate joy and put it in a box with our emotions. It is a good fruit given to us through the Holy Spirit from our Father God when WE CHOOSE to find it. Kind of like telling my kids, “Sometimes you need to use your hands when looking for stuff” — aka move stuff to find the thing you’re looking for. I think we need to get over the idea of “feeling” joy and go out with a mission to find it.
When we have that faith in Jesus, like those first Christians had, we only have one more step to take; it’s an action, something we have to do. We have to MOVE the emotions, circumstances, and whatever else in order to FIND the joy that is already there.
I really love this quote. I know this says “Not found.” I believe this is the sense of us looking for happiness in circumstances, people and things…finding joy is an active mindset which I think leads to joy being cultivated every single day.
