choosing joy

“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” 

-John 16:22

“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” 

-Psalm 30:5

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 

-1 Peter 1: 8-9

Life is full of hardships, heartaches, struggles, and disappointments. Odds are, if we let our current life situations determine how we feel, we won't be feeling joyful. There is always something we feel as though we're missing out on, not doing well in, or that is just completely falling apart.

But luckily, God is the One who gives us joy, not our current situation or the people that are closest to us. 

There's a big difference between happiness and joy. Happiness, according to Google, is a positive emotional state. As a science person, when I hear that word- state- in this context I automatically think about the states of matter. Think back to your second grade science class. Do you remember what can happen to states of matter? They can change. Not only can they change, but they can change very easily and sometimes very quickly depending on how much heat you add or take away from it. Our emotional state works the same way. It doesn't change depending on how much heat is added or taken away from us (except for when I have to leave my warm room to walk to class in a blizzard).

What I was getting at was that our emotional state changes based on what's going on around us, just like the states of matter change based on what's going on around them. 

But joy is a constant. Or at least it should be if your joy is found in the Lord. The situations you're going through in life can change on a daily basis and sometimes even more often than that. But no matter what is going on in your life, God is still there with the same love and care He had for you back when things were going well. You can feel sad while simultaneously feeling joyful. No matter what happens to you in this life, you will spend eternity with the One who laid His life down for you, and that's something to rejoice about. 

The Greek word for "joy" used in Galatians 5:22 is chara, which means "feeling of inner gladness, delight, or rejoicing." We have joy in the inner parts of our body- our heart and soul- because that's where His Spirit lives, and until He is no longer there, we can always feel His joy, no matter how hard life gets. 

Earlier in the year, my former high school principal's four-year old daughter was diagnosed with a very rare form of brain cancer. All the way up until her very last days on this earth, she told her family to choose joy and felt that same joy herself despite all of the pain and fear she was feeling. 

If children can have faith and joy that big without fully understanding the One responsible for it, then why do we struggle so hard having that faith and joy ourselves even when we know His goodness and faithfulness? 

Maybe it's because they haven't witnessed all the evils this world can bring like we have, but I've seen so many who have gone through some terrible things yet they still have more joy than those of us lucky enough to not have had to go through those things. We can learn so much about what it means to have joy and faith from the tiny humans running around on this planet. They may be small with little life experience under their belt, but they sure do know what it means to have faith and to choose joy no matter what life throws your way. I pray that we can follow their lead because this world is in desperate need of more joy. 

Happiness comes from happenings, but joy comes from the Lord.