Joy

In my Sunday School class and in our sermon today, there were references to joy. I know these are not coincidences. Can we find joy here? Can we be joyful, in spite of the wreckage, the staleness, the putridness of our sin? I think we can. I think we can long for heaven in such a way that we appreciate the fact that we're already in, even though we're still here. I don't think it's an easy battle, though, nor can we manufacture a "feeling" out of thin air or memories. Still, our pastor's analogy today was about that temporal joy you feel when you see your team win a critical football game; when you see Frodo make it to Mount Doom in spite of Gollum's efforts; when you see Luke saved by Darth Vader at the end of the third Star Wars movie. That gut-wrenching excitement is a window into the joy we might feel in the presence of the most High, but it's not momentary. John Piper said in Sunday School (we just watched a video, he didn't just show up): being in His presence is SO much better than the best meal with the best wine, it's so much better than sex. I also love this article.

I want to ask myself what I must DO to know this everlasting joy and to be able to know it visibly, in spite of the ugliness of the world. In this week where my boss is going to be here, in this week where I'm trying to figure out if I need to throw a graduation party but I don't know what to do, in this week that I'm frustrated that I can't seem to do any planning in my personal life, in this week where I can't seem to do anything to help my town because I work from 8 to 5...I will be in earnest prayer over joy.