Finding Joy

 Our holiday wishes usually contain messages of joy and peace.  We want everything to be merry and bright as we celebrate the Season of Light and look forward to the New Year with anticipation. This year, however. it is hard to ignore the great collective sadness that envelopes the world.  Covid 19 is causing deep heartache, as people grieve for loved ones lost to a merciless virus, and we isolate ourselves from family and friends at a time of year when we usually gather and celebrate.  If we are not experiencing economic hardship, we are painfully aware that many others are.

We may wonder: "is it possible to find joy at such a time"?  While we may not feel the elation of mood that comes naturally during happy circumstances, we can find the true joy that flows from within...the deep contentment that comes as a gift of the Spirit.  According to Galatians 5:22-23:

"the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control". 

Spiritual joy is a deep inner contentment that has little to do with outward circumstances and everything to do with our connection to the Divine. C.S. Lewis, in the book, Surprised by Joy, attempts to describe it: "Joy, (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with happiness and pleasure; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again...I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is.” 

In truth, we often confuse joy and pleasure. We seek and experience pleasure in many different ways: food, alcohol and sex to name just a few. But all of these are just temporary fixes for our deep inner need for the joy that springs eternal, the joy that is beyond our circumstances and "never in our power".  It is a gift, freely given, and all we have to do is ask with open hearts and deep gratitude. As we do, we will see clearly the blessings that are right in front of us.

It is impossible to understand the suffering of the times we are living in, or to know the answers as to why a benevolent God would allow such pain.  The best we can do is be present in this moment, open our eyes and our hearts to all that we have to be thankful for, and ask God to let us be "surprised by joy".