I know people who are addicted to watching the news. I mean, they flip from one news channel to the next, get newsmagazines, read articles online and get texts and tweets about breaking headlines. You know what they’ve found? They’re more informed, yes, but they are also more depressed.
Sometimes it seems that our world is so terribly troubled. It seems that there’s only misery; and we ask ourselves: Where’s the joy? Is there no joy left in the world? Is joy so fleeting that we can only catch a glimpse of it from time to time?
There’s been a lot written about happiness lately, but what about joy? There’s a subtle difference between happiness and joy; like the difference between a smile and a deep belly laugh. Happiness is being grateful for the life that you are living. Joy is reveling in that life. Happiness is contentment; joy is ecstasy.
Where is the joy? Joy brings a meaning to our lives. It makes that interval between our being born and our dying, more than just a journey through time. It makes the whole realm of “living” richer, fuller and more colorful.
We could live our lives just in a state of contentment, but we’d be missing out on the unrepeatable opportunities for joy in our lives. Our time on this earth is far too short to miss out on the possibilities of joy.
Of course, there are no guarantees of joy; life rarely offers us guarantees of anything; part of the risk in seeking to create joy, is the risk of failing to create it. Yet failing to take the risk guarantees one thing – that we will never create joy.
Notice, I have said that we create joy, rather than find joy, because I believe that joy is the result of creation. We create both the opportunities for experiencing joy and create joy itself. And we can create joy not only for ourselves but for others as well. This is another difference between happiness and joy. We can’t make another person happy no matter how hard we try. We like to say that this person or that person makes us happy, but in reality I think we are saying that they bring us joy. Whether we are happy or not depends upon ourselves; but other people can create joy in our lives – if we let them.
If you don’t believe me, just think about your favorite music. Someone created that joy. They heard something in their soul and had the talent to create a piece of music that would, centuries later, still bring joy to those who heard it.
We create joy in this sanctuary. When we stand together, open our hearts and sing songs of praise, we create in ourselves and those around us a sense of joy, even if we sing badly.
You are creating joy.
Sometimes creating joy means creating the opportunity to experience the joy the universe conspires to create. Think about some of the beautiful experiences you’ve had that gave you such joy.
There is beauty everywhere – all we have to do is create the space in our lives for those things to bring us joy. Maybe the reason we find it hard to create joy in our lives is that we don’t take the time to make the space for joy to enter our lives.
For some of us, we are so busy with the work of our lives that we don’t create the time and space for the joys of our lives. The sun rises and sets every day and each time it does it is an opportunity to take joy in the beauty of creation, but how many of them do we bother to take the time to see.
Joy takes effort, but the effort brings with it great reward. We can create joy in our lives if we are willing to do a little work.
Imagine, if every day in our own lives we created a little bit of joy and then we decided to create a little bit of joy in someone else’s life as well. What kind of world would we live in then?
Cheryl Walker says, we cannot bring happiness to everyone, but we can bring a little joy to everyone we know, and if indeed there are only six degrees of separation between us and everyone else in the world then it wouldn’t take that long to bring a little bit of joy to the whole world.
It may not solve the world’s largest problems, but it will make this life more meaningful if only for a short while. We all will suffer in this life in some way – and we all deserve some joy as well.
When you see the glow of a sunset, let it bring you joy. When you see people laughing, let it bring you joy. Open your hearts to feel joy. And consider bringing joy to someone else. Be creative. You can create joy.
If you don’t have a place to spend time with your family of origin or your family of choice, consider joining friends here at The Met. We will be hosting a Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving Day. Call us (619-521-2222) or check us out on the web themetchurch.org for more info.
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.
