The Source of Joy

How can we be full of joy in times like these? It seems we are truly walking through the valley of tears as we watch the shadowlands of humanity play out on the world stage. We are called not to loose hope, to take heart and find joy. This is the spiritual maturity we are called to pursue with fear and trembling. We cancel our focus on the fleeting joy the world offers and gravitate to the joy found in the moments of God’s presence.

Mystic and theologian Howard Thurman (1899–1981) writes of faith as the most secure foundation for joy: 

There are some who are dependent upon the mood of others for their happiness…. There are some whose joy is dependent upon circumstances…. There are some who must win their joy against high odds, squeeze it out of the arid ground of their living or wrest it from the stubborn sadness of circumstance…. There are still others who find their joy deep in the heart of their religious experience. It is not related to, dependent upon, or derived from, any circumstances or conditions in the midst of which they must live. It is a joy independent of all vicissitudes. There is a strange quality of awe in their joy, that is but a reflection of the deep calm water of the spirit out of which it comes. It is primarily a discovery of the soul, when God makes known [God’s] presence, where there are no words, no outward song, only the Divine Movement. This is the joy that the world cannot give. This is the joy that keeps watch against all the emissaries of sadness of mind and weariness of soul. This is the joy that comforts and is the companion, as we walk even through the valley of the shadow of death.