Joy is scarce these days.

Inner joy, peaceful joy, permeating joy that seeps into our bones and into the daily hours.

A cry of our heart that seems so illusive.

There are so many things that seem to keep joy just out of reach. We have fears and schedules and deadlines and weary, lumpy bodies. Around us there is grief and fear and anger and helpless uncertainty. All justified, all in seeming juxtaposition with the deep desire we have to just…be…joyful.

“The Joy of the Lord is my strength, I will not waver walking by faith.”

The message of that song is so simple but can seem so unattainable.

My faith does not always walk unwaveringly. My strength sometimes comes from knowing that God’s tears echo my tears, that his justice is strong and mighty.

But more often than not, finding my strength in his joy seems beyond my and the world’s capabilities.

But if I want joy, want it deeply and wholeheartedly in the midst of all circumstances, then I need to seek and find, to ask and see the door of joy opened to me.

So how do I seek joy? How, in the midst of the struggle and suffering of a broken world do I find this Holy Grail of promised abundant life?

I begin by asking for it.

I come before and beside God on his right hand and I ask him for a supernatural joy. He will not withhold good things from me, but sometimes good things come through learning, a gift that comes over time and through experiences. Equipped by the Holy Spirit to experience and manifest the Fruit of Joy.

Sometimes I sit in grief, but some of the most soul-opening times I’ve had are when God allows me to see things as he sees them. What delights him about me, about others, about this world he’s created. And I laugh with delight in his presence. He gives good gifts, doesn’t he?

Those are times when the gift of joy flows freely. I also have times when joy comes through a different journey, one where I know that joy will come as a trickle as I intentionally seek it out.

Joy is an experience and an expression. Something felt and something sought. 

Because an outpouring of joy can spring up from seeking joy in the world around us and in the people around us. God’s fuelling of joy in us finds its outlet and blessing to others in the presence of others.

So I ask for joy and I seek out joy.

I look for the conversations where someone I know is experiencing new fullness in God. They are learning, they have been healed, they see restoration in relationships, they have seen something new from God in a new way. They have dreamed dreams and seen the Glory of God.

I lean into those conversations. I choose Joy. I choose not to put a damper, to out-do, to reign scepticism where I should embrace newness.

Where God is moving and breathing new life, I need to rejoice, for myself and for others.

Joy is to be shared. When we rejoice with others we all experience the wonder of community and sit in the presence of the good gifts of the Father.

Our joy expands, our faith expands, and our joy expands again.

Choosing joy can be just that, a choice. Walking alongside God and hand in hand with others. It’s a journey worth taking, especially when our small window of joy can be the only beacon of hope some people will see. We can choose to have joy be our light for others, with others, in the midst of the brokenness around us.

In the midst of the whirlwind, choose joy as your eye in the storm.

Sit in God’s presence, curl around him together and tell each other your stories of his goodness, his love, his work, his wisdom. Laugh together, cry tears of joy and rejoice.

Choose joy.