Joy! Midweek Reflections
“I have told you this, so that my joy may be in you
and your joy may be complete.”
--Jesus, as remembered by John (15:11)
There is so much happening in our world that can rob us of joy. Here in the hospital we treat sickness and disease in people experiencing joyless, painful times. In this global village, sad stories about natural disasters and international fragmentation decorate the headlines, a saga that is not just decades old, but centuries old.
This verse of Scripture says that complete joy, ecstasy if you will, is a possibility; for the cynic, the faith-filled and the mystic. Sounds almost unfathomable, doesn’t it?
“Somehow joy is much harder to express than sadness.
It seems that we have more words for sickness than for health,
more for abnormal conditions than for normal conditions.”
Those who live joy-filled lives are
always moving away from rigidly fixed situations
and exploring new, unmapped dimensions of reality.
In other words, ‘Joy is always new!
Whereas there can be old pain, old grief, and old sorrow,
there can be no old joy. Old joy is not joy!
Joy is always connected with movement, renewal, rebirth, change—
in short, with life.”
Quotes are from Lifesigns, Henri Nouwen, p. 85-88
It’s mid-week!! I wish for you a day that has many moments of joy! May springtime be alive within you, filling you with joy, complete joy and contentment.
A prayer for today: God of joy, may I find you in new ways—small or great. Be before me, beneath me, over me, behind me, within me. In your name, Amen.
--Ben Keckler
04.13.11
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