Day 6: Our Joy, God's Joy. Can the journey ever be the Same?
Read: Psalm 30:1-5, Psalm 33:1-4, 1 Chronicles 16:23-34, any of the 164
places in the NRSV Bible where the the word Joy can be found.
Today is a day for me to get a bit more serious and down to earth.
There is a place in my heart this morning that I am having some issues
trying to reach. For my heart is just a bit on the heavy side, my hip is
giving me fits and my feet just seem to be getting heavier, bogging
down as I try to move forward into the rest of my day. The place I am
trying to arrive at is the place of Joy. It is a wonderful place to be
and I have been there many many times. I have always enjoyed my lengthy
stays there.
However, on this wonderful wonderful morning, I
find myself being inexplicably slowed down by a heaviness in my heart
and a weighty spirit slows my pace. My journey to the place of joy is
hindered. I expect to get there eventually, but right now I am slowed
down. Each morning I take a ready and steady journey down the path that
leads to this place called Joy. I am happily married, I have a home to
live in, I have more than enough food in the house to share with the
wife, great pets and so much more. Each morning my heart and my spirit
sing songs of prayer unto God. Except that today I am finding that Joy
seems a bit further away than I remember.
I want to sing. In
fact I really enjoy singing to God in the morning and throughout the
day. But right now - my song is slow to develop, slow to reach my heart
and my lips. I cannot really pin down any specific reason why my journey
is slowed down. It just seems to be that way right now. I am sure that
it will get better as I keep walking. I ask you, In your experience, Is
there a pathway that leads to a place called Joy?
My wife has
six cats. For the most part, these cats are quite healthy. Except for
one which a cat she has named 'black' because well ... he is ... mostly
black with white paws. He is an elderly cat about 11 or 12 years old. He
was part of a littler of 4 that were rescued as kittens from a barn.
Back in December 2011, we realized that he was losing serious weight. We
took him to the Vet where the cat was diagnosed as Diabetic. He was
prescribed a regimen of twice a day injections of Insulin. Gradually,
over a period of 5 months or so, he regained his lost weight. While in
the process of recovery, he was not always a very happy cat. He was
tired and sluggish and his walking was not always the most steady.
Repeated journeys back and forth to vet and we finally after repeated
evaluations, we had the correct dosage of insulin.
Let me tell
you a little about the cats twice daily journey to joy. We keep special
moist food and the insulin in a small refrigerator in our office. First
thing in the morning, the cat will come looking for us to let us know
it is time for Joy. He will purr, and meow incessantly as he goes back
and forth between us, the refrigerator, and the place where we prepare
and administer the Insulin. As we are getting the syringe ready,
spooning out a small portion of food, he is pacing back and forth
purring and meowing all the way. He will put his paw out there and try
to pull the hands preparing the Insulin and spooning the food toward
him. He wants his joy!!! We put the food before him to distract him from
the needle. He purrs and purrs and purrs as he digs into the food while
we give him the Insulin. Then we pet him. All the time while he is
eating and medicated, he just sings and sings his song of Joy. Sharon
and I just watch and listen to him plastered with big smiles on our
faces.
Can you think of any reason to sing joyfully this
morning or at this very moment? I mean if something really bad just
happened to you, a friend, a school mate, a co - worker or you just
watched something on Television or online or wherever, heard something
on the radio that created a barrier to your journey to the place of Joy?
And I guess that my own heart and spirit is in such a place as I
watched the video on you tube of the bus monitor being bullied by middle
school boys and memories of my being in such a place as the bus monitor
cascaded over me soaking me to the bone.
Such an event really
made my journey to the place called Joy that much slower. It was truly
very difficult to watch for me personally. It was also exceptionally
difficult for a world to watch as there was a great outpouring of
international rage against those who perpetrated this grievous act. I am
going to guess that the bus monitor's journey to the place of her Joy
was severely slowed down, each step more hurtful than the last. This
tragic situation likely slowed many journeys to the place of Joy.
In view of this event and so many others that come before our senses:
Is there any reason to be joyful whether you feel like it or not? Is
there any reason, any rational thought process going through your heart
or your spirit that convinces you that the journey down the path to Joy
should wait 'for a better day', for the 'sun to shine again one day'?
What about the heart of God? Surely His heart is seriously grieved by
these events. Should He or will He slow down His journey to the place of
Joy? Will He stop our journey while we patiently wait on Him to renew
our strength as an eagle (Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 103:1-5)? Is it God's
message that we should stop our Joy?
No! In fact this should
be an emphatic NO! If we stop and wait until we feel the fullness of
joyful praise before we continue our journey, we might be waiting an
exceptionally long period. A period of standstill seemingly without end
will only seem more so for there will always be something that will keep
us from being joyful. Some will choose this path for which we can only
pray about and seek opportunity to come along side of in support and
encouragement. It is so very important to recognize when someone's
journey to Joy is slowed down or even stopped altogether.
We
can always learn a lesson from those who have gone before, the 'been
there, done that' group of people. Their support through prayer and
presence cannot and should not be underestimated. It is always a good
time to sing a new song with somebody. God always enjoys a good 'joyful
noise' from us. It makes His heart sing right along side of us. It adds
to the divine chorus of angels that eternally sing His praises, who
exist to forever, in joy, praise and worship the Lord of all creation.
Our praise is simply acknowledging who and what God is. God is true
Love. God is our strength and our true Joy (Nehemiah 8:10) We journey
towards this place of Joy on the grounds of our faith in that it will
forever be there. For we walk by faith and not by sight to a heavenly
place of the purest kind of Joy. The awesome Joy who is God.
Once we get the full vision of who God is, (not overnight by any stretch
or reach of our imagination a one day journey) what He has done for us,
what awaits us, and how faithful His place of Joy will always be, we
can find new reasons to remain positive and expectant even when we do
not feel like it. Maturity to navigate the pathway to Joy grows ever
stronger when we can authentically say: 'Weeping may linger for the
night, but joy comes with the morning.' and from Psalm 16:11 "You show
me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your
right hand are pleasures for evermore."
Sometimes all it takes
to be on the same path to Joy is an occasional Halleluiah. What
Halleluiah's could we sing? What Halleluiah's can we bring before the
Lord that the place called Joy shall be revealed to us, shall ever be
placed before us?
Let us place ourselves along the pathway to Joy ....
Our hearts are funny things, O God, rising and falling at the oddest
moments. We can be encouraged by the smile of a friend or complete
stranger or we can find ourselves going down the pathway towards
dejection when we see it rain.
We can become excited by the
prospects of a wonderful meal, but dejected when we think about those
all who have little or none to satisfy their needs. Yet there is always
something stimulating and empowering about your presence, and when we
become aware, when you reveal it to us, through our halleluiah moments,
our hearts seem to glow and we find our spirits lifted up. Oh, let the
Joy of the Lord be ours.
ABBA Father, we wish we lived more
constantly in awareness of your path of Joy. It is ever before us yet we
too often take another. Guide us toward an awareness of your kingdom.
Guide us in the midst of distractions both great and small. Help us to
be more sensitive to the needs of others in a world that suffers too
much cruelty.
Embrace and Empower us now through your Holy
Spirit to walk in the path that leads to everlasting Joy. Listen with
Joy to our Halleluiah moments and let the heavenly chorus resound that
all may come with loudest song and praise into the lives of our
neighbors and finally into the eternal glory of your presence. Let your
Joy be ours. Through Jesus Christ our Savior, the author and finisher of
our faith. Amen
Amy Grant "Better than Halleluiah http://www.youtube.com/
Chuck Girard "Sometimes Alleluia http://www.youtube.com/
Chuck Girard - Sometimes Alleluia
www.youtube.com
From
the album "Chuck Girard" (1975). A timeless beautiful song. 2nd Chapter
of Acts were the back up singers. You can buy this album in mp3 format
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