I have told you these things so that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy may be made full and complete and overflowing.
-John 15:11 (amplified)
A few friends and I were discussing what qualifies as a “good” day. One suggested that, technically, any day when things are “good” for 50.1% of the time is a good day. This sets the bar pretty low in my mind. Except for maybe a day or two of extreme physical illness, this standard would mean that I’ve had a good day just about every day of my life.
Keeping Tabs on Joy
This sweet boy is really getting a kick out of his Bible! Or maybe it’s just the photographer?
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
This led to a discussion of what portion of a typical day we each spend in a positive emotional space, regardless of the environment. For some who shared in that the discussion, that percentage seemed (to me) surprisingly low. Then I thought back to my own life and realized there was a time when I was truly only in a positive emotional place for 60 or 70 percent of the day. The day following this discussion, I kept tabs on my own joy, and, in the course of 24 hours, dropped into a negative space only once, for a period of thirty seconds–as I was attempting to get a smoothie cup down from a cupboard and almost dropped an 8 by 8 glass dish on my head. The next day, for a period of just a couple minutes I noticed I felt a little down just as I was first waking up, meditated out of my funk, and then was joyful the rest of the day. So, clearly in the upper 90’s…not “complete joy” but…pretty close.
This joy is independent of circumstances. It is not that things were smooth, stress free, or even would qualify as “good” to an outside observer in some cases. However, as Paul says,
I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
Philippians 4:11
God’s desire for us, and Paul’s state of being, is a steady residing in the ever present love of God, in the kingdom within.
The Path to Joy
Photo by Micah Bratt on Unsplash
As previously mentioned, this joy-filled life is a relatively new experience. Just a few years earlier, I woke up feeling as if impending doom was on its way and had a regular diet of heavy sighs. What led to this change? It was certainly a Spirit-led journey. The Holy Spirit led me by the hand (or the heart, I suppose), over the course of years. Yet there are a few practices/decisions that were central to the transformation of my life.
- Complete dedication of my life to God. I surrendered my life to God about three years ago. It was one of the most spiritually powerful moments in my life: deciding that the rest of my time on this Earth would be dedicated to loving and serving God, surrendering/giving my all to my creator. From that point forward, even my trials felt like blessings, as I knew to the depths of my soul that these challenges were ridding me of my barriers to God.
- Meditation. Christian meditation/Centering Prayer–sitting in silence just enjoying the presence of God. When the center of my day (around lunchtime) as well as the bookends (morning and night) were spent just basking in the presence of divine love, the joy meter shot upwards.
- Awareness of Thoughts/Emotions. Bringing every thought and emotion under God’s dominion (2 Corinthians 10:5). Realizing that any negative emotion is a sign that I am out of alignment with God’s will and that I am becoming less aware of His presence. If a thought is causing me pain, I bring it to the Holy Spirit and ask Him for a different way to see things.
The full dedication of life to God and then the conscious decision to devote extended periods of time to enjoying His presence opens the door to greater awareness to the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives. With our life surrendered to God and our attention on Him, the Holy Spirit does the rest: gently putting just the right lessons in front of us to show us what we need to let go of and what perceptions need to shift. We can trust that our lives will be divinely orchestrated for our highest good…and the highest good of all. And that’s a reason for joy in and of itself!
Garbage in Comparison
Life in the presence of God truly is heaven on Earth.
A month ago, I had a conversation with a spiritual mentor who reminded me of what my journey of faith has given me. He asked me what life would be like if I suddenly lost my connection to God. I immediately understood what he meant–that I could bear anything–the loss of loved ones, severe illness, poverty, extreme stress–anything but the loss of the presence of God within me. That is truly the only thing I couldn’t bear.
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.
-Philippians 3:8 (NLT)
That’s the secret to joy. When our every breath, every heartbeat cries out in love to God, when our only desire is to know Him better, to live in greater oneness to our creator, how can life be anything but a joyful love song to our creator?