C.S. Lewis said that “joy is the serious business of heaven. I like that.
I have 11 grandchildren, and each one of them is special. When I am around them, it makes me feel and act younger. They make me feel good. They know how to practice celebration. They may start singing or dancing at any given moment. At times, when the weight of the world is on my shoulders they usually do something that causes me to lighten up. They are just expressing the joy in their heart.
As I reflect on these priceless occasions, I realize that we tend to divide our minutes into two categories: living, and waiting to live. Most of our life is spent in transit: trying to get somewhere, waiting to begin, driving someplace, standing in line, waiting for a meeting to end, trying to get a task completed, worrying, or being angry about something that didn’t happen.
These things, often keep us from experiencing joy. They are driven in our preoccupation of self. The very selfishness that keeps us from pouring ourselves out for the joy of others, keeps us from noticing and delighting in the many small gifts God offers each day. Walker Percy describes boredom as “the self stuffed with the self”.
I realize that every moment of life is not happy. There are times that call for tears. But each moment is pregnant with possibility.
Joy is at the heart of God’s plan for human beings. The reason for this is worth thinking about. We will never understand the significance of joy in human life until we understand its importance to God. I believe that most of us seriously underestimate God’s capacity for joy.
