Joy

The concept of joy is rather elusive to so many. Have you ever met someone who seems to have that almost strange peace in the most extreme situations that makes you think they are either a complete fool or a total sociopath? For many years I envied them their ignorance or mental illness. Then one day I came across a woman who lost her husband. She was smiling in the midst of tears. As I was looking up the number for the padded ambulance service, she said something to me that I will never forget. “I still have my joy even in my sadness.”

That flew right in the face of logic. How can you be joyful and sad at the same time? Isn’t joy just another word for happy? You can be happy yet not joyful and sad while filled with joy. Who knew? Joy goes to a new level beyond simple happy, sad, depressed or mad. Joy is comes from knowing something that goes beyond yourself. For some it is hope for better times that gives them their joy. Others look to some kind of inner peace to transcend the troubling times. For me it is a matter of faith in God. Knowing that there is someone much more powerful and wiser than I am in control of… well… everything, gives me that joyful peace that helps me get through the day.

Whatever the source – and mine is the best by the way – joy is something that we need in these challenging times. Find your joy! That is something that has kept me together through the worst of times and has helped me to soar to greater heights during the best of times.