Joy

I’ve been listening to Rob Bell’s messages from Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids for over a year now. I’ve quoted him a few times in this blog, but never have I really spent time and listened to one sermon so closely (nor wanted to share it with others).  The message was simply about Joy (specifically, about Joy during the Christmas season). 

Anyway, the thing that really provoked my interest in this message was his one quote. He mentioned a man who said that his life was rough. I’m sure that you know this person. We all know this person.He’s the guy who complains repeatedly over little things. The woman who can’t seem to find a way to see what really matters in life. Nothing is ever enough for them (and not in a good way either).

So Rob asks this man, “Do you have children?” and he replies, “Yes”. Then Rob asks, “are you healthy?” and he replies, “yes”. And then he asks if his kids are healthy, and this man replies “Yes, but…”

There shouldn’t be a but after that exchange. Meister Eckhart said “If the only prayer you say in your life is Thank You, that would suffice.”

I really can’t think of any words that have rang truer. We have become a society that believes that nothing is ever good enough, nothing every works for them. But we fail to see the joy in life. Maybe if we praised a little more and griped a little less, the world would be a better place.

I’m not saying that you need to be a Christian to do this either. Perhaps it is as simple as (and I know this is extremely cliched) stopping and smelling the roses. Look for a little good in life. Thank God (or whomever) that you’re alive, and that people love you, and that you are not a failure. These are simple things that anyone can do and I promise you, it will work for you.

So maybe at Christmas, instead of thinking about the lines at the shops or the snow that you have to shovel, think about the fact that you have some money and time to stand in those lines or that you have a shovel and a driveway to shovel.I know I will be thinking about those things.

“Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”

-Kahlil Gibran