Sunday, December 23, 2018
Sunday Reflection: The mystery of joy
There are states of mind that we can create within ourselves. It is easy to get angry, of course, if we focus on what hurts us. With some work, people get to contentment by focusing on what is good. But joy... it seems almost impossible to create that within ourselves in a given moment. It takes something or someone to bring it on, or an irresistible, unpredictable impulse within ourselves.
That's one of the hard things about "the joy of Christmas." Joy can come on Christmas, of course, through the presence of loved ones who bring you joy, or from an epiphany of faith, or maybe just from a place you can't quite identify. But... it doesn't come just because it is Christmas, and I think that is hard sometimes.
Have you ever noticed that the most significant points in your life, the turning points, usually did not occur on those days-- graduation, for example-- that are supposed to be the important ones? Instead they pop up unexpectedly, sometimes awkwardly, and stare us in the face. We look back, years later, and see them clearly, whether it is a seemingly random day in November or during the fireworks on the Fourth of July.
And joy, too. Joy comes to most of us, but it isn't tied to a calendar.
You may have joy this Christmas. But you might also have contentment, or acceptance, or a quiet sense of being loved by those who have known you since the day you were born. All of those are good, too. And joy, when it pops up, will be just as wonderful on another day.
