Find Joy in Each Day

One of the essential elements of a life well lived is joy. My daughter sent me a card with the above encouragement on it: Find joy in each day. I’ve positioned the card beside a photograph taken last spring of Mhairi, my mother and me, with my mother wearing a funny nose and eyebrows/glasses, and Mhairi in a lovely moment of abandonment to joy. 

The joy of the Lord is your strength, the Bible advises. What is the essence of joy? I think it is trust, a deep trust that despite whatever life is throwing at us, God is in control and his plans are for our good because he loves us. That frees us to be joyful. To let go of anxiety. To abandon fearful thinking. 

Joy involves living in the moment. Noticing the small detail of life and celebrating it. The contagious laughter of a child. The free canter of a herd of horses charging round a field. The gambolling of spring lambs. 

It enables us to declare, it is well with my soul. 

It is an acceptance that life is uncertain but what is assured is that I have this moment. This moment.

I don’t know what your life looks like at this moment, but here, though clouds scud around and the forecast is thundery and grey, the sun beams down right now. I’ve done a couple things on my to-do list. I’ve got plenty more on that list but for now, I am going to enjoy the moment, enjoy the presence of God in my life, and celebrate the life he’s given me.

There is an abundance of joy to be found in this day.

As I write these words, though, I am so aware that not everyone is experiencing a ‘neutral’ day like I am. There are grieving relatives of those lost on the shot-down Malaysian airliner. There are terrified inhabitants of war-torn lands, of Gaza and Israel, of Syria and Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, Nigeria, and so on and on and on. 

Finding joy in the midst of such pain and trauma is more than a matter of strength of mind. It must be a gift of God which penetrates the agony and gives a glimpse that there is more, there is better, God has plans for everyone and they are plans for good and not for harm. 

My prayer as I celebrate life and God’s love, is that those who are stuck in a fearful storm of life will have moments today punctuated by a shaft of God’s love and light, penetrating the pain and instilling hope and yes, even joy.

The joy of the Lord is your strength. There is more to life than what we see.