I do not have to convince any of you that the world feels clamped down and serious right now. We are watching norms being overturned as if they do not matter, people arrested off the streets without warning or due process, retributive policies enacted with a grin and a giggle. Things feel dark and ominous.
What better time to plan to pursue and seize joy as if it is our job.
Poet Richard Wilbur writes:
Joy's trick is to supply
Dry lips with what can cool and slake,
Leaving them dumbstruck also with an ache
Nothing can satisfy.
Joy always comes with a side dish of existential ache, for we know it will not last.
It is here and then it is gone.
It is fleeting and flirtatious.
It is surprising and shifty.
This is why poet Christian Wiman says:
Joy, though inevitably tragic because death is absolute, is the very lifeblood of being and ought to be sought and seized at every moment of existence.
(Christian Wiman, Joy: 100 Poems)
To be told that joy is the very lifeblood of being and that we ought to - we must - do our best to seek and seize it every moment feels like the very challenge so many of us need right now.
Yes, protest. Yes, protect the vulnerable. Yes, prioritize good citizenship. Yes, do what you can to protect and preserve our democracy.
And ... seize joy like your life depends on it.
Because - and I believe this wholeheartedly - your life really does. As does mine.
Our lives depend on joy.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Jim Wilder (The Other Half of Church) sees the deepest roots of joy being found in being delighted in. He gives the example of walking into a room and someone that we are connected to sees us and their faces light up. They are delighted to be with us. He goes on to share that, as God's children, He delights in us and His face lights up when we come into His presence. Imagine that! That is a game changer.
I love this, Garth!!
Alice