Advent Week Three: Joy
By: Sarah Schluep
Joy is found in the most unlikely places, like under a log in the middle of a mock Wilderness First Responder scenario. I was taking a Wilderness First Responder, or WFR, course, and for our final “exam,” we had a mock mass casualty simulation. I was a secondary rescuer, providing in-line stabilization for a “patient” with a spine injury. As we moved the patient out from under an overhanging tree trunk, I noticed something odd right where my hand was on the patient’s face. It was a very cold wood frog, just hanging out. Wood frogs have the ability to freeze almost all the way during the winter, then thaw again in the spring, so they often hibernate close to the surface. The frog must have sensed the heat of our patient’s face and woken from his sleep.
This moment was unexpected, but delightfully joyful in the midst of a more stressful day. And I’ve carried the joy of that little wood frog with me, wondering what else I might be passing by during the rhythms of my normal day. Joy is a gift from God. It’s listed as part of the fruit that the Holy Spirit brings in our lives, because we live in a world that makes having joy very challenging. Joy requires slowing down and being present to the presence of Emmanual, God With Us.
Joy is found in wood frogs and bursting sunlight, in a hot cup of tea and a cool swim on a hot day. Joy is a hug from your favorite person and the cozy chair that fits you just right at the end of a long day. It’s a long, slow walk, stopping to notice the birds or turn over a log. Joy is a creek bubbling over rocks and the wind blowing through trees; it’s the delight felt when we pause long enough to remember our Creator is near.
We cannot manipulate joy by buying more things or filling our schedules, by controlling time or people or spaces. It can’t be bought or sold, and as much as capitalism tries to convince us that one more purchase will provide the happiness we seek, it will not work. Joy is defiance in the midst of a culture that buys our attention at the cost of our lives. Joy is contentment, gratitude, presence.
Joy is living fully alive.
Songwriter Andy Squyres says,
“In You I am empty
In You I am full
In You I am living with or without miracles
In You in Your presence
Struck down but not destroyed
Live or die I am filled
With death-defying joy.”
This sounds similar to Paul’s words in Philippians 4:12: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (NIV). Joy is not dependent on circumstances. Even in the darkest seasons of life, “infinite joy is offered us” through God who came down to earth to be with us (C.S. Lewis, Weight of Glory). Death is inevitable for all of us, yet joy remains because death is not the end.
Evening falls slowly, the woods glowing softly while the clouds turn purple. A vulture soars overhead; no, two, as they head to their evening roost. I can hear the creek bubbling through its icy coating, and notice the green of mosses and lichens on the tree trunk in front of me. Such small delights require a pause. Take a breath, and notice life around you. What moments of heaven’s joy breaking through can you see today?
Emmanuel, God With Us, let us sense the joy of Heaven as we anticipate Your coming. In the darkness, give us strength to hold both sorrow and joy. Help us to set aside the burdens and busyness and revel in Your infinite and overwhelming joy. Amen.