Tuesday 15 November 2016



Joyful. 



I was trying to understand joy for you, trying to put my finger on what it means.
There were very few things that became clear, the first and most obvious, as it is often established is that joy is vastly different from happiness.
Happiness is a general term for an emotional response to things going well, it is equal parts excitement and satisfaction.
But joy, it is far more broad, and yet somehow more particular. Joy extends to times of hardship, it is a thing of abundance in the good times and yet it is a sturdy comfort when the soul is heavy.
Perhaps it is the clear-minded stillness found in the presence of God, a heart that is full with an understanding of the place and position of God in every situation.
Joy does not mean finding pleasure in the pain I don’t think, it is a swelling of the heart at the knowledge that in your current situation you have no control over what happens, however good or however bad the situation, you have a peace that no well-intentioned person could ever teach. A peace that is patient, a stillness of the soul, because the less control you have, the more God has. And it should fill us all with abundant joy that God is in control.
Joy is not concerned with something as fleeting and temporary as happiness, joy is concerned with knowing where God is in your situation and drawing strength from there.