Joy

Joy

Always be joyful.

SITTING CROSS-LEGGED ON THE FLOOR, I paused when I saw the journals. My sister Katrina had died several months earlier after a battle with breast cancer, and my mom, my sister Kendra, and I were helping my brother-in-law sort through books in their office to decide what to keep or donate. The three of us ranged around the room, sorting through piles, stopping every once in a while to ask about a title. On both sides of me, books were piled high. Each of them was special for one reason or another. But what I held in my hands was different.

Glancing over her beautiful script, I couldn’t help but remember how stunned we were when she was first diagnosed at age twenty-three. She exuded health. But as the years passed and the cancer returned, stealing her hair and vitality, it was harder to hope. When she died, a part of us did too.

The journal felt like a gift, and between what she had written there and in old emails she’d sent over the years, her words were a treasure uncovered. In one message, she detailed her current challenges but ended with these words: “So, how am I emotionally? Well, I choose to have peace. I choose to have joy. And you know what? You can have what you choose. My life is filled with joy, peace, love and usually, patience. He is faithful. My God is faithful.” In the midst of her pain and confusion over God’s purpose, Katrina chose joy.

Paul told the early church more than once to be joyful; in fact, he repeated it even after he himself languished in prison. I’ve heard it said that the Christian who cannot be joyful refuses to trust God in some way, because joy is not simply a result of our present circumstances but our hope for the future. On hard days, that truth can remind us that the decision to choose joy is inextricably linked to our hope for the future, no matter what it may hold. We are forgiven and will spend eternity with Jesus, and that is always a reason to be joyful.

Lord, thank you for the gift of joy. Help us to choose to always be joyful. Amen.

-Kristin

One Good Step: What circumstances do you need to claim joy in?