We lit the Joy candle last Sunday, and all week long I have been thinking about the difference between happiness and joy. I have always understood joy to be deeper than happiness. That it is less about your external circumstances and more about the sure and certain hope in God to achieve the things He has promised, but I felt like I was missing something. So I listened to podcasts, watched videos, and spent time observing my little corner of the world, waiting for God to give me a spark of inspiration and provide a picture that would help me better understand joy. And He did.
3 years ago.
It was Christmas Day 2019, just before the World shut down and so many of us were pushed to our limits and then double that. I wrote an observation in my journal that an unlit Christmas tree was a bit sad. That, even with all the pretty baubles still all over it, the tree seemed to be missing something. Something important, and transformative. Without the lights twinkling warmly, the tree was not all it was supposed to be. The lights set a Christmas tree apart from an ordinary tree. Even a tree with no other decoration at all can be transfigured, radiating beauty that brings a smile to those around it once the lights are turned on.
I fear that too much of the time, I look more like an unlit Christmas tree. It's so easy for me to be distracted, pursuing more and more of those pretty baubles to decorate my life, seeking temporary pleasure and short-term happiness. When I am living like that, disconnected from God who is the source of all joy, I am not all I should be. I don't shine. There may be many reasons for that disconnect, but it is my job to "prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Isa 40:3) and to abide in Him (John 15:1-17). It is my job to get connected and stay connected. If I don't stay plugged into God as my source, then the power of Holy Spirit cannot flow through me. If Holy Spirit cannot flow in and through me, I cannot be illuminated with the Joy of the Lord and help to light the path for those alongside me on this journey through life.
But if I abide in Him, and I hold fast to His word? If I move with the current of Holy Spirit and allow myself to burn brightly with His light and love? Then it won't matter how much I have or what hard things come my way. It won't matter how many sparkly decorations I put on my tree. I will be illuminated from within, with something much brighter than anything I can buy at the store. Then I will have to power to shine bravely into the dark, and share that light with others.
Because Joy is an inside job.
Comments