Confession: I’ve been fighting for joy recently. Somewhere in the swirling snows of a late-to-arrive winter, my hope has grown wispy and flighty. It’s not gone, it’s just harder to find than it’s been before. I know in my head that I have a dozen good, solid reasons to be exceedingly happy and probably even a million more than that. My head knows a lot of things really well. My heart has been stubborn to follow. Maybe I’ve been waiting, as the song says, for joy to fall down. That seems easy enough – joy just dropping like the law of gravity. Or maybe tumbling through the door like a precocious toddler interrupts dinner with her happy laughter and crooked ponytail. Perhaps that’s how it should be, but for me as of late joy has been more like the first class seats on the airplane – in my line of vision just through the blue curtain, but way out of my league.
Today, the words of David helped to close the gap between the joy I want and the joy I have:
“The King shall joy in Your strength, O Lord, and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice.” Psalm 21:1
I could say a lot about this verse. The scribbled notes in the margins of my Bible tell me I studied it out in April, 2009. I know the history and the Hebrew root system, but today all I need to know is that David used joy as a verb.
A verb is something you do, not something you get.
A verb is something I choose, not something that falls.
I will joy in the strength that God has sent to shepherd me through this storm, and I will joy in the beauty that moves in and around and through it:
- I will joy in the sun streaming through my window this morning, promising spring.
- I will joy in the chance to wear a little black dress on a Saturday night with a handsome date.
- I will joy in being the mother of children who astound me every day.
- I will joy in a job that is the fulfillment of so many of my heart’s desires.
- I will joy in orange. It’s really pretty.
- I will joy in daily bread.
- I will joy in friends who surround me with strength.
- I will joy in a grandson who is here, healthy and wonderful beyond all good sense.
- I will joy in hope.
It sounds like semantics – and maybe it is – but if life and death are in the power of our words, then I want to get this one moving in my life, even when it seems my circumstances are slow to catch up. I would write more, but I have to go joy.
What’s on your joy list today?
Blessings,
Bo
I will share a portion of my joy with you today – I am in a place of many blessings – and have plenty to share – smile
All my hope and all my joy is in how good and how great God far beyond, but right in the middle as well, the warfare of my circumstances and the messy complicated business of this world. The tension of the two, until it is utterly resolved is such a complex extreme of grief and joy, sometimes it is very difficult to process. He understands my weakness though, and I find compassion and peace beyond this world when I “run” to Him and all the shelter He offers me. Those tender mercies never fail, though I do over and over. Then there is the remarkably mysterious thing, and it happens every time, a holy exchange of my sorrow and grief for His joy. Just how He does that, I’ll never understand fully. But I’m so glad He does. It’s way beyond me and this world but at the same time it’s right where I live.
NEEDED this one today, Bo! Going to spend a minute letting go of the sad (which sometimes looks like a few tears) and then go JOY. I think David’s modus operandi sorta looked like that sometimes as well. 🙂 Thanks, Beautiful!
You got this girl. You got this. 🙂
thank you for this beautiful post…
I will joy in a six hour road trip with my 7th grade daughter
I will joy in a celebration of my sister’s 50th birthday
I will joy in a God who creates beauty out of ashes
I will joy in a husband who is home now but will be deployed for six months soon.
I will joy in fresh squeezed orange juice
I will joy in the gift of beautifully written words that express even more beautifully thoughts.
Blessings… and Joy.
Stacy
JOY has been popping up all over in my blog reading… I think you would enjoy (as if you don’t already have enough blogs or things to read) reading this gal Ashley’s… She is flighting a rare cancer and is “Choosing Joy”. Her blog is actually her business (she designs and makes girls clothing) but has in the past few months been shifting gears to what is going on in her personal life with her fight against her cancer. Her joy has inspired me to have a more joy filled life and I thought how perfect that you too are “choosing joy”. Her blog is http://www.lilblueboo.com and there is a link to her “choose joy” story. hope you enJOY! 😉 thank you for posting!
O my. Thank you for this sweet, encouraging word. As you can see, my name is Joy . . . I’ve struggled lately. So, thank you for sharing from your heart.
I will joy in the fact that I do not walk alone.
I will joy in a puppy playing in the snow.
I will joy in a clean wash cloth, soap, and hot water.