Joy

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:4-7
When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. ~ Rumi (13th century poet)

What is joy?
Is it the same as happiness?
Someone I know recently commented to me that it is possible to feel joy even when you aren't feeling happy.  True joy can express itself even in the midst of suffering and sorrow.  Maybe that's because joy is a more lasting, inward feeling of connection to God and God's people, whereas happiness is temporary - more fleeting, and based more on things of material consequence.  Maybe.  
Or maybe I'm just word-wrestling?  
I don't know.  I admit that as much as I've nodded my head sometimes in conversations about joy and happiness, I'm not sure yet I can always differentiate between the two.  Or always even agree with what I might have thought previously.  
Even in a previous paragraph! :-)
There must be something to the inward feeling. Paul says to rejoice always.  Always.  And that the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (recognize that?)
That peace that comes from God. Always. Perhaps that's really the word to partner with joy.  Not happiness, but peace.
Shalom.
Salam.
Peace. Joy. Surpassing all understanding.
And yet we know it when it happens to us. We know it when we feel it. We know the depth and breadth.
That it is, yes, greater than the happiness I received when I buy my favorite album or watch my favorite movie or even travel to an exotic location.
The peace of being with my God and with God's people living in shalom.



Gracious God, may the peace that surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and bring us joy to share with each other!  Amen


Thoughts for engagement:

- When have you felt joy? How has it been different than happiness for you...or has it?
- Look up joy in scripture. What are some of the ways it is used?

Popular posts from this blog

The Gospel of Mark: Women at a Distance

There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.  These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. ~ Mark 15:40-41 Where have all the disciples gone?  What about the crowds? Whose left? Some women. Standing at a distance. These two verses have always been poignant to me. We get so little in any of the gospels about the women following Jesus. But here's what we know about them. First, they paid the bills. And second: they stuck around. They would be the ones to watch Jesus die and the ones to visit his tomb. One of the things I've noticed about Mark is how he is able to say so much about people even by using so few words.  About Judas we know his character despite getting so little about him. About the woman who anoints Jesus, we know her generosity despite not even knowing her n...
Read more

Transformed through Courage: Esther

Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying,  “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.”  When they told Mordecai what Esther had said,  Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”  Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai,  “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my beha...
Read more

The Gospel of Mark: The Crucifixion of Jesus

They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.  Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull).  And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it.  And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.  The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”  And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.  Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days,  save yourself, and come down from the cross!”  In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himse...
Read more