Finding Your Joy

Finding Your Joy

I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.—C. S. Lewis

ARE YOU HAPPY?

The pursuit of happiness. A final destination so important that our forefathers included it in our Declaration of Independence. Millions trade their way to happiness—sometimes finding it in a corner office, others with a power-shopping trip to the mall—only to find that it quickly dissolves into discontent. Here today, gone tomorrow. Happiness, in reality, is just the emotion we feel when we are in a state of well-being. But emotions are fickle and can change with the weather or a ten-second hormonal surge! In fact, I think happiness is overrated—after all, it’s so dependent on outside influences.

Do you have peace?

When my kids were teenagers, I would have these moments (sometimes hours) when both kids were doing well in school, their social networks humming; my job was going great; my husband was content and satisfied with his work—our little family a Norman Rockwell poster. And then the sun would come up and there’d be an algebra test, a girlfriend’s hurtful words, or a boss’s unreasonable expectation, and that peace would be a distant memory.

Peace is a state of serenity. But your peace can be interrupted when the telephone rings. For this reason, I know that peace is fleeting and, like happiness, should not be our lifelong pursuit.

So that leaves us with joy. Do you have joy?

Better yet—do you have uncommon joy? Do you live in a state of contentment that defies all logic in this world gone mad? Regardless of who has harmed you in the past, what circumstances may get in your way today, or what life-blows you’ll face in the future, can you say you live in a state of constant, uncommon joy? To live with rich contentment, joy—which cannot be affected by outside forces—is required. Joy is a state of heart and is the only one of these three states—happiness, peace, and joy—that you and you alone can control. No one can mess with your joy unless you let them.

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! (John 15:11)

Have you maybe misplaced your joy? It’s not gone—it’s just in a very good hidey-hole. Let’s go find it. Over the next 364 pages, I will share with you a few very practical but transforming tips to finding uncommon joy—regardless of how common your life is!