iStock Image #535456192, by flyparade, Used by permission
You may be wondering why we are talking about joy when the world seems to be falling apart around us. Or, just maybe, you have discovered that we need joy all the time and most of all when things are bleak, sad, or scary. Joy is not optional. It is crucial for our survival and, especially, for living well and thriving.
And yes, sometimes we feel joy “suddenly and unexpectedly,” as Mary Oliver writes in her beautiful poem. That makes it especially important that we learn to stay open to joy and relish it when it does surprise us. Yet, we also have the capacity to intentionally cultivate joy as a way of living – a way of being. And, although I think, perhaps, God is the ultimate source of all joy, just as she is the source of all love, I do not mean we need to cultivate merely “joy in God,” which the Philippians reading rightly commends to us. I mean that by our attitudes and practices, we can multiply the joyful moments in our lives and the lives of those around us. We can live with joy even in the most difficult times.
Henri Nouwen put it this way, “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” So, if we want to experience joy, we have to choose to participate in and practice those things that can be sources of joy. And a common denominator of all of those things is giving ourselves to something greater than ourselves.
We cultivate joy by doing things that we know can help us feel it – like enjoying a meal with friends, like singing and dancing, like walking in a quiet natural space, or relishing the company of one’s beloved pet. I get joy every day from the simple act of repeatedly throwing a ball for Lexie and watching her race after it. And I laugh with joy when I watch her play with other dogs in the park. That joy sustains and strengthens me for the challenging and stressful work I engage in every day.
Notice that nothing on that list I just offered is a solitary activity. Even if you are out for a walk or a hike without another human being around, you are not alone. God is with you and so are the trees, plants, the birds and squirrels or other creatures along the pathway. Joy is not a solo endeavor. Joy is fundamentally relational. In moments when I am surprised by joy, I do not attribute it to something solely within myself. Joy comes from experiences of being in relationship with other humans, other creatures, with events I encounter or participate in, and, of course, in mutual relationship with God. The more we embrace this connectedness, the more joy we experience. And the more joy we experience, the more we are able to give joy to others. The goal, as Desmond Tutu said, is ‘to be a reservoir of joy, an oasis of peace, a pool of serenity that can ripple out to all those around you’.” When I see a river flowing, the sun setting with a crimson sky over the trees, an eagle soaring and circling just for the pleasure of it, I feel joy and a sense of awe because I am in relationship with these events and these creatures. I am – we are – connected to all that is.
In addition to these kinds of joy-inducing experiences, there are also many intentional spiritual practices that can help us cultivate joy. I don’t have time to describe them, but I highly recommend the list included in The Book of Joy by Tutu and the Dalai Lama. The book contains a long appendix titled, “Joy Practices” that includes ideas like taking time each morning to set intentions for that day, time each evening to reflect on and be grateful for your experiences that day, and finding joy in relationships and community.
All of us have the opportunity to make powerful, joy-producing choices all the time. Instead of reading only the generally depressing news in the mainstream media, we can find sources of positive news. Just this morning, I learned a term researchers use for a kind of joy I knew from experience. They call it sympathetic joy – the joy we feel when something good happens to someone else. Positive media outlets are popping up across the globe. I discovered one this week called The Better India.
Instead of focusing only on the turmoil around us and the multiple reasons to despair of a better future for humanity and the planet, we can listen to podcasts or webinars or read books that help us learn about solutions that are already being developed for transforming the way humans live. We can choose to explore nature, participate in communities, serve others, and rejoice in our relationships with one another and with our ever-present, all-loving God – as we strive to do in this gathering every week.
The benefit of Joy goes well beyond a momentary feeling we get. Joy can be a source of healing, strength, and resilience. During World War II, a group of French women who participated in the resistance movement against the Nazis were captured and imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp. In 1944, one of the women, named Ninine Charvet, had a birthday coming up. So the others, at the risk of their lives, crafted a handmade book as a birthday gift for their fellow inmate. They used whatever materials they could scrape together without attracting the attention of the guards. The finished book contained hand-drawn illustrations, poems, and messages of encouragement. It expressed their hope, defiance, and their love for one another in the face of their brutal circumstances. Surely, these creative and courageous women must have experienced a combination of fear, exhilaration, and also joy in creating this extraordinary gift. And Ninine must have felt incredible joy and love when they surprised her with it. This story is a reminder that even in the most dire circumstances, the light of joy and love cannot be extinguished.
Yes, the world can so often feel hurtful, depressing, and even hopeless sometimes. But joy can help us access another level of truth and reality that lies under the surface of what our senses perceive. And that can help us to never give up but to keep seeking ways to contribute creatively to the transformation of the world.
Remember that every moment, we are participating with God in co-creating the future. As The Book of Joy puts it, “No dark fate determines the future. We do. Each day and each moment, we are able to create and re-create our lives and the very quality of human life on our planet. This is the power we wield.” So, friends, don’t allow yourself to get stuck in thinking either that there is nothing you can do OR that you have to save the world all on your own. In the face of our terrible times, experiencing joy and sharing joy is crucial to our survival and to being able to resist evil, injustice, and oppression.
Choosing joy doesn’t mean we ignore the bad stuff happening to us or around us. It does not mean we stop working for a better world, for a more just and equitable political system, and for compassionate care of those around us. It does mean that we promote joy’s growth in the face of the world’s seeming hopelessness. We embrace joy as a bold declaration that injustice and suffering will not have the final word. So, yes, rejoice in God, always. When joy suddenly appears, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. And nurture joy in your life in all the ways you can.
1 Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams, The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World (New York: Avery, 2016. Kindle Edition.)
2 Ibid., p. 63.