Joy.

What is it that happens when we begin to let our heads lead our lives instead of our Spirit?

If our lives are “like a mist”, a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes, so fragile, why then do we allow our lives to become so jaded by the world? How is it that along the way we permit ourselves to lose our child-like attributes that God sees as essential and should be indispensable to us?

There are things that we let slip from our grasp, sometimes without even realizing they’re gone –

Awe and wonder. Imagination with wild abandon. Playfulness. Humility. Trust. Creativity. Energy. Willingness to learn. Sense of adventure. JOY.

Looks like a laundry list of all the things we really want, huh?

But yet, at some point we begin trying to use replacements… other “things” as substitutions for what God placed in us from the beginning. We engage in a pursuit of happiness instead of embracing our ever-present ability to feel joy.

The emotion of happiness is dependent on what “happens”, what we want to happen and what does or doesn’t happen. Joy, however, is a feeling deep in the soul that is outside of the control of our thinking minds. We must simply allow ourselves to be joyous… a choice to let it come to the surface.

Joy is energy. Joy is transcending. Joy is harmonious. Joy provides for renewal and expansion past our current condition. It’s everywhere, even in the smallest of things we experience, it’s there.

Then what happens when we encounter sorrow that threatens the survival of our joy?

When sorrow abounds… Joy has not simply gone away.

For those who have truly experienced their “dark night of the soul”… I understand. The crushing physical pain, the primal sobbing that just won’t stop, the pleading for the agony to end, the struggle to endure. It’s only when this torment eases, as we are guided to the dawn on the other side of that dark night, lovingly walked through the valley of the shadow, then we begin to catch a glimpse of the small rays of sun shining down on us. Sometimes, we retreat back into the darkness…why is that? Is it because there is a sense of safety in the familiarity of that darkness? Is it a fear that we are leaving something or someone behind? Could it be that we are just unable to fully recognize that there may be blessings and joy in those rays of sun as we take steps to emerge? Are we retreating from something that we prayed for in that light that’s breaking through?

I believe it’s only because we were lead through such a deep valley that we begin to understand the fragility of it all (the mist, the vapor). We all have a limited amount of time to experience all that there is. This is the place where we start to realize it’s okay for joy and sorrow to truly be simultaneous.

Happy and sad cannot co-exist, but joy can be found in the midst of despair. When we allow His light to shine and reveal it to us… all we have to do is make room for it. Even when grieving through great trials we can live with a sense of joyous expectation that God provides to us. We can also rejoice in years spent, memories made, a sense of new awareness and the promise of eternal victory.

So, if joy is all encompassing (every mountain and every valley) …

Can we find our way back to those child-like attributes that are heavenly in God’s eyes? Awe and wonder in even the smallest of things? Imagination free from the restraints of what others might think? Trust without borders? Creativity without self-judgement? Energy to overcome obstacles? Willingness to learn outside of our comfort zone? JOY in it all?

Asking for a friend.