The Pursuit of Joy

"My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” - John 4:34

This week at church we lit the candle of joy. Ironically, a few hours later, I looked at my husband and said "I just don't have any joy! I'm exhausted and overwhelmed." Oh how often the holiday season can lead us to feel this way, and life in general! We live in a culture where we continuously fill our schedules and are praised for "doing it all." I've heard it referred to as "hustle culture".

But this is not God's way. If we look at the life of Jesus, we do see times where he was tired and still served. But, we see many times where He left the multitudes and went away to be with God! Jesus' priority was not busyness or success, but rather knowing His Heavenly Father and doing His will. He said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work" (John 4:34). Not to keep up with the Jones', not to have the nicest decorated house, not to (you fill in the blank).

The reason we get to a place like I was in the other day is we have the wrong perspective. Ann Voskamp puts it like this, "Joy is a function of gratitude, and gratitude is a function of perspective. You only begin to change your life when you begin to change the way you see." We feel stripped of joy because we are looking at surface level things, failing to look to the "fat of things" as Voskamp would say.

Everything becomes sacred and everything becomes opportunity for thanksgiving when we slow down and look closer. A pile of dirty laundry - the reminder of another day passing and another day that God has not left us or forsaken us! Floors that never stay clean - the reminder of many friends and family who have gathered near! The list goes on.

Join me in making lists this holiday season. Not lists full of Christmas to-dos, rather lists full of thanksgiving. Together, let's shift our focus - off of the surface things and onto the deeper, eternal things. Let us be more absorbed with Christ than with the surface of things.