Lessons on Joy
Lesson on Joy
Confession: I am not the most joyful person I know. In fact, I am far from it. I tend to be critical, my first thoughts are often sarcastic, and I have a resting angry face (though some of you know that by another name). And yet joy has been the focus of what God has been teaching me of late. Oh the irony!
One of those lessons came at me hard on a recent trip I was privileged to take to Kenya. While there, my family and a team from the church I attend got to partner with a school where we have a long-term relationship. One of the many lessons I am still processing came from the way our Kenyan brothers and sisters radiated joy. From their Sunday services to the interactions at the school, to the homes we were welcomed into - joy was seen, felt, and lived in tangible ways. It was in sharp contrast to how I see many of us approach our Sundays, our school or work, and the tone of our homes
Often we come into church burdened and worried about our circumstances. We are distracted by despair. We know we are supposed to be joyful and act so we take a deep sigh and approach joy as this solemn monk-like acceptance of our challenges. We seek joy DESPITE our circumstances. Yet, while in the slums of the Mathare Valley, in some of the poorest communities in Kenya, worship was a party. Joy and hope radiated from every face and song. As a community they were not joyful DESPITE their circumstances, they exuded joy REGARDLESS of their circumstances. They are living testimonies of the mindset that Jesus has already won, so it's time to celebrate and bring His Kingdom to earth. Our successes, struggles and failures - while useful for developing us to be more like Jesus, were irrelevant to the joy they felt.
Is that our posture?
Cultivating Joy
I am going to guess, like me, that may not be the case for you. So how do we partner with the Holy Spirit who is completing a good work in us, to cultivate a baseline of joy? How do we make joy, authentic radiate-from-our-pores joy, our starting point?
Like most noble goals in life there is no singular action we can take that will instantly make us more joyful. But there are behaviors and mindsets we can foster to cultivate joy. Here’s a few.
Gratitude
How do you share your appreciation with those around you? How are you intentional about telling people you are grateful for who they are and what they do? One way I am looking to do that this year is by picking a few students each week to give a word of encouragement to. I found some inexpensive business card style notes to share with them this year. I am hoping this gratitude will be contagious! Feel free to ask me how this is going in a few weeks, I would love the accountability.
Seek to Serve Others
Where are you valuing others as more important than yourself? Where are you looking out for the interest of others? (Philipians 2:3-4) This might be at home, work, school or church. Regardless of where this takes place, taking our eyes off ourselves is a quick way to recalibrate our sense of entitlement, minimize our problems, and amplify joy
Acknowledge What You Control and What You Don’t
Trying to control things we don’t might just be our biggest point of frustration. Reminding ourselves of what we can actually control and what we can’t is a sure-fire way to help us begin to let go. So what do we control?
-We control our actions and efforts, NOT the results.
-We control our attitude, and NOT the attitude of others.
-We control how we treat people, NOT how they respond or if they deserve our kindness.
The Power of And
All of us need a safe place to vent. But usually when we complain, that is where it ends. We talk about what went wrong and leave it at that. What would happen if with every complaint we added what went right? It would look something like this:
”Unfortunately I got in a car accident and fortunately no one was hurt.”
“Unfortunately I was late to work and fortunately my colleague was able to cover me.”
“Unfortunately I left my coffee on the roof of my car but fortunately I had a gift card to replace it.”
Why are pivots important? It's really hard to cultivate joy when you are focused on the negative and where things feel stuck. Life is full of challenges, but pivots in the way we speak serve as tangible reminders that we serve a God who is in the restoration business.
In Conclusion
Joy seems elusive in our modern lives. But I have to wonder if we are burdened and unable to find joy, is it because we are carrying the wrong yoke. Jesus promised that His yoke was easy and His burden light. This is not to dismiss our pains or frustrations, but it is my prayer that Holy Spirit so permeates our hearts that we too can experience joy regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in.
