Pure joy

A while back I read a response to a post on my friend's blog, in which the person said, essentially, that true joy really only comes in brief glimpses in this life...that it is impossible to experience it on a regular basis.  I don't agree.

I believe that the nature of true joy allows it to permeate through times of great sorrow and grief.  True joy transcends the frustration of the moment of spilled milk or missed trains,... as if true joy allows us to savor the moment, helping us to both see the good parts of what is happening and catch glimpses of how our tribulation is defining us.

True joy is transcendent and is not limited by circumstances and situation.  I believe Corrie Ten Boom and her sister experienced true joy in the hell of the concentration camp.  I believe Jesus Christ experienced joy knowing that He could leave His beloved mother in the watch-care of his brother-friend-disciple, even as He hung on the cross.


As I look out on the glory that is this world, the magic of this misty morning, surrounded by my children and my husband, knowing it could all disappear in the moment, I can feel the true joy of knowing that there is a God in Heaven in whose omnipotent, omniscient, and all-loving hands can hold me.

I know joy, for I have felt my own Gethsemane of sorrow.  I can feel the difference of peace that lasts in stark contrast to ephemeral happiness. 

Perhaps joy is better known as hope?  Hmmmm....

Joy, peace, hope.  I do not believe joy is dangled in front of us, as a carrot on a string, only attainable in the next life.  "Men are that they might have joy."  I believe joy can be present in the here and now.