I have started many blogs on the topic of joy but I’ve never really been able to get very far. You see; in my mind, joy for me was not something I was completely sure about. Joy was always this distant point on the horizon that always eluded me. Joy was like that water mirage in the desert…the one that looks clear until you get close and then it just disappears. That was my version of joy…or at least that is what it seemed.
I also thought joy was a by-product of my circumstances, or in other words, if I’m at Disneyland, surrounded by happy people, then I should be full of joy, right?
Wrong.
I do think it’s easy to look at the word joy and not really understand it. And for guys this especially true because we tend to look at everything through our identity prism i.e., Achievement, Conquests, etc. WHY? Because that is what the world thinks that joy is.
In other words, the world’s version of joy actually means, what YOU have or achieved, things like money, cars, or just, lots of “stuff”. So that means if you don’t have those things, then you don’t have joy?…is that a fair statement?
Does “stuff” equal real joy?
Definition according to Webster:
a: joy is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires: delight
Actually, this definition does NOT surprise me at all because it just confirms what we just spoke about. In the eyes of the world, Joy equals well-being, success, and good fortune.
Here is why I wrote this particular blog on this topic; recently, as I was struggling with a particularly difficult week, God punched me in the face with something that I had not seen before. It was like He pulled the curtain back and let me look beyond what my eyes could see. What I saw, gave me understanding, and most of all, some joy “perspective”.
I felt as if He asked me, “what are the blessings that I have given you?” which really caused me to think. What I saw beyond that curtain was simply my family. My wife, who still loves me after almost 35 years, my sons, my daughter-in-law, and a new grandson. Honestly, I didn’t see any “stuff” like cars or vacations or anything like that. For me, that was the difference.
You see, I am the guy that always gets lost when trying to focus on the things that I thought would bring me joy…and that was God’s point…THINGS DON’T BRING US JOY, HE DOES.
By focusing on the things of Him, He showed me that by looking at MY LIFES BLESSINGS, it caused me to see them for what they truly are…my version of joy.
So look at it this way guys…
Throughout the chaos and the mayhem of any given day, when your focus on the day and the outcome of that day is bringing you down…I encourage you to stare into that mist and look to find your own blessings… Because what I found is that by focusing on those, suddenly the day doesn’t seem so bad.
So you knew after reading this blog that I had to ask this question…
What is your version of joy?
Until next time guys-
