Joy - The Majesty of Each Moment

This is my third article in an unintentional series. I had no strategy for this (unusual for me), it has simply emerged out my invitation for you to join me in what has become a fresh and itentional dive into the depths of allowing Jesus to transform my heart, mind and actions. I have asked the Lord to give me more of Him and less of me.

Over the last six weeks I have been focusing on a concept that has both intrigued me and eluded me for much of my life… joy. Scripture suggests that joy is certainly an invitation (and occasionally a command) that God extends to those who walk with Him. I long to have my life look more like Jesus and it appears that I still need to learn a thing or two about the daily practice of joy. So… here are a few thoughts from my journey so far:

1. There is a clear invitation in scripture to a life of joy on this side of eternity. In all the complexity, confusion and difficulty of our lives we are invited to walk in joy.

   Galatians 5:22 (NIV)
   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…

   Romans 12:12 (NIV)
   Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

   Romans 14:17 (NIV)
   For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

   James 1:2 (NIV)
   Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

2.  Joy is not unbridled or untethered exuberance. The New Testament uses the word “Chara” (derived from “chario”) when it speaks of joy, and this is best described as a calm delight… a low level rejoicing that characterizes our attitudes and actions.

3. My most significant struggle with experiencing joy is that I expend a great deal of emotional energy on the future (worry, planning, strategy) or on the past (hurts, regrets) and I am largely inattentive to the majesty (and joy) of this moment. I need to grow in my ability to experience calm delight in the present moment. Anyone else struggle with that as well?

In a world obsessed with the next achievement, the next experience, or the next season of life, it is easy to miss the sacred gift that God places before us every day: the present moment. It is easy to spend our lives waiting for joy to arrive someday—when circumstances improve, goals are reached, or problems disappear. True and sustainable joy is found not in the future we imagine, but in the majesty of each moment lived fully present with others and God.

Those who know me well are familiar with my conviction that growth is a function of our disciplines and habits, and so, as you might imagine, I have been working to build a discipline of joy into my life (several of you just rolled your eyes but stay with me). It goes something like this:

I take a deep breath and as I let it out, I remind myself of this truth:

“This breath and this moment are all I have. My life doesn’t exist in the future…that is not here yet, and it doesn't exist in the past…that is gone. This moment is the totality of my life. It is the most precious thing I have.”

Then I bend my attention to all the amazing things in this moment. The sky, the trees, the weather, my children, my wife, the car I’m driving… all the things that I can conceive and perceive that fill my life with gratefulness and joy. In very short order an interesting thing occurs… a calm, but simultaneously overwhelming, delight settles over my mind, heart, and eventually my body. “Chario” settles over me and I get another glimpse of God’s invitation to joy.

Perhaps as you read this article today you are neck deep in the complexities and challenges of your life. It is possible that you almost stopped reading when you saw this article was about joy. Everywhere you look you can only see difficulty, and you are living in quiet desperation that feels like it can’t be spoken (especially if you are in ministry). My invitation to a journey of joy may seem ridiculous in this moment. I get it. But it is possible that God invited me to write these words so that today you could hear his fresh invitation to a journey of joy…..imperfect, complicated by life, but available to you today. Join me on the journey of growing in this space.

I remain your companion on this journey of growth,

Dan 

Dan Scarrow

District Superintendent