Joy- Do you have it????

Happy Thursday, Blogland!!!  I hope that you all had a wonderful week last week!  My week was interesting - my project ended early (on the 3rd), then I got called in for another project that I started on the 10th, so I've been busy again (just when I thought it was about to slow down).  Then Monday I was sitting in the office and my head started hurting, there was pressure in my chest and I couldn't catch my breath.  Could it be the old blood pressure spiking again- yep!  So this week included emergency doctor appointments and will include some tests, including a stress test - y'all continue to pray for me, hear?  All that to say that my time is a little different than I expected it to be right now, but I'm not complaining, not at all!!!

I was going to write last week about the notion of joy, but couldn't get my thoughts together and I wasn't sure if that was what I wanted to talk about or not. I kept going back and forth and then the week got away from me.  Then when I got to church on Sunday, guess what the sermon was about?  You guessed it - Joy.  So that was all the confirmation I needed that this was indeed the right subject!

Getting back to last week, Thursday morning to be exact, I woke up feeling good.  Just an emotional lightness that I felt all the way to my spirit.  It made me pause.  Let me explain - I'm not generally a "peppy" person- those folks actually get on my nerves at times!  On the other hand, I'm not Eeyore either (for you non-Winnie-the-Pooh fans, read about Eeyore here). I'm in the middle generally.  So this indeed made me pause to try to put my finger on exactly what I was feeling.

I tried to analyze the feeling, wondering if it was just happiness that made me feel like that. And then I thought about the things that aren't so great (like I'm STILL not fully unpacked and the disarray in the Cozy House (it is getting better as I figure out where to put things, but that's another story)) - no it wasn't happiness.  Besides, and I think I've said this before, my belief is that happiness is temporary and can change from moment to moment.  So, no, it was more than happy. Contentment?  I chewed around on that one for a moment to figure out if I was really just content... no, not really.  Once again, things could be a lot better in certain areas of my life and I'd definitely be more content!  So nope, not contentment either. So what was it??? That's when it hit me - JOY.  I felt joy!

Why do I say that?  Well, because just as good as I felt on Thursday, I crashed on Friday and didn't feel so good and I was questioning everything and everybody!  Friday night I got some things done and I felt happy again.  But then Saturday morning didn't go as planned and I was back down again.  Sunday came and I was back up high as I made it to church and experienced an awesome worship service - you get the picture.  But even with my emotional ups and downs, I felt an inner peace that has eluded me for some time now; my grandmother had it and it was always something I strived for, but just couldn't seem to attain, while rushing about with the busyness of life.  I felt (feel) that I can finally breathe again - I don't have everything I want, but I have everything I need; I truly believe that God is in charge of everything and I am finally learning to let Him be; I have a renewed sense of purpose in my spiritual walk and I feel like myself again; I am reaping the benefits of my sown seeds of seeking God's purpose and direction for MY life - so yeah, I'd say I have a lot to be joyful about!  

And just what is joy??? My personal definition of joy is when I have peace and contentment in my spirit even when I'm having a bad day and everything is not all "together;" but rather I can be content in looking at the big picture and knowing that it will all be ok, even if it isn't right now... 

According to Rick Warren, "Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation."  Definition taken from his devotional post, "The Definition of Joy," which you can read here.    

Pastor Singleton's sermon on Sunday was entitled "The Gift of Joy" (he is doing a series on the Gifts of Jesus during this holiday season;last week was hope).  There's two Sundays left in December; you can still come and visit my church if you don't have a church home...  The scripture text was Luke 2:4-12, and told the story of Jesus' birth- ordinary people doing ordinary things when the ordinary was "invaded" by the supernatural!  The angel came to bring "good tidings of great joy" (Luke 2:10).  Jesus was the reason for the great joy and He can still bring joy today.

Pastor Singleton broke down the difference between happiness and joy like this:  

Happy - "because of" - Temporary

Joy - "in spite of" - Permanent

How about that?  By his summation, joy trumps happiness because happiness is tied to your circumstances. I happen to agree with him.  Listen, the scriptures are full of examples of God's people who were able to rejoice even in the midst of suffering, because they truly believed that He was in control.  See Psalm 126:5- "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." See also Hebrews 12:2 - "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."  

The songwriters have written about this notion of joy over and over again, down through the years:

"Still have joy" - Colorado Mass Choir; listen to it here; "Joy" - Rev. James Moore & Mississippi Mass Choir; listen to it here; and one of my favorites (and not just because my daddy is playing on it) "Weeping May Endure for a Night, Joy Cometh in the Morning" - Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer; listen to it here.  

You get the picture.  What am I saying?  Ok, here we go, Darvi's take on this joy thing:  You have to find your way to inner peace despite what is going on outside around you.  You may need to detach from things, from people - it's ok.  You will have to be a little selfish during this process, and that's ok too.  It will take everything you believe about faith and hope to find it, but the result is so very worth it.  And when you find it - there is nothing that can shake it.  Not a bad day, not bad news, not someone's bad attitude (not saying that you won't have a human reaction to those things, because you will)- your inner joy can't be shaken.  It won't happen overnight, you have to grow into this thing.  But when you do, your perspective will change, your thoughts will change, your words will change and your attitude will change- I dare you to try it!  You will find joy in the little things and in helping others. 

This is one of the most joyous times of the year.  People are generally just nicer and everything is so pretty - the mood can be contagious!  But there are also so many people at this time of the year that are down and depressed - the opposite of joy - because they have lost loved ones and are facing their first Christmas without them (or their seventh) or they feel bad that they don't have money to buy gifts - you name it.  And to them I say this - I've been both of those things and they can indeed weigh you down.  But let's not lose sight of the real reason for the season - Jesus and what the gift of His birth brought for us all.  Don't believe me?  Listen to these little diddys- "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" here and "There's no Christmas Without You, here.  Heck, just listen to the whole Kirk Franklin Christmas album!!!  It's on you tube, listen to it here.

Now, I'm not saying that you can't feel bad because things aren't going well or you've had personal tragedies (hello, have we met???  2015 has been one of my most challenging years yet!), but what I'm saying is that you need to know in your heart of hearts that it is all going to be alright despite what it looks like and ultimately, it's not for you to figure out (now, I'm a bit hardheaded, so it's taken me a minute to get it, I'm sure I'm not alone...).  If you need to find a bit of joy, might I suggest volunteering?  Something about volunteering that 

helps you to forget what's not going right in your own world as you make the world a little bit better for someone else.  That always works for me!  Now having joy doesn't mean that you aren't going to have bad days and sad times, they are a part of life.  But what it does mean is that you will be able to weather those storms a little better when then come, because you know that trouble don't last always (yeah, I threw in another song lyric...).

Ok, onto this week's Christmas Scripture Reading/Writing.  I hope that you have been keeping it; the scriptures walk you from the prophesy of the Old Testament through the New Testament.  I look forward each day to the readings (ok, so I miss a day here and there and have to catch up, but I am current now...)

December 14:  Matthew 1:21-25

December 15:  Matthew 2:1-6

December 16:  Matthew 2:7-12

December 17:  Luke 1:26-29

December 18:  Luke 1:30-34

December 19:  Luke 1:35-38

December 20:  Luke 1:46-50

I truly hope that this helps someone; I keep hearing people talk about how bad they are feeling right now and I just wish I could pour my joy onto them!  Instead, I just say be encouraged and seek God, He can give you joy, plain and simple.  Do you have joy in your spirit?  Share with me- you know the drill:  Holla @ Darvi!  Be Blessed!

xoxoxo 

PS- Got some funky formatting thing going on, not cool Blogger, not cool!