Want to know my soapbox? It's pretty much this: happiness is an emotion and it's fleeting, joy is not. Joy is more like gratitude and grace and peace, and also it's a paradox because you can have it at the same time as grief and loss and pain.
I get that it's a weird soapbox to have, but it also seems really important in a culture of people chasing after happiness. Because I'm just not sure we can get it, at least no more than we can get anger or frustration or sadness or silliness or other emotions people can have. They're all fleeting, and when I'm feeling particularly introspective (and joyful, probably), I think that the complexity of human emotions is beautiful. And even though I'd never wish to have the grief that I've had in my life, I'm grateful that I've been able to see it as lovely. Loss aches so much because of love, and I'm really glad that I've gotten to love a bunch of people.
Here's my fav. song about joy that I have only ever found in Ascension's Senior Luther League Songbook:
JOY
Sing when your spirit is down
Run when your mind is weary
Love when the world despises you
And pray, to receive a very strong feeling
and a very strong mind
and a friendship that will last a very long time.
Trust when you've given up hope
Wait when you are impatient
Give when your goods mean much to you
And look to the cross on calvary,
it will give you a peace
and a lifetime of a joy that never will cease.
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