Advent - Joy

Merry Christmas Beloved Readers,
This, the third week of Advent is dedicated to Joy. I wonder if our current culture really understands what joy is. I think we confuse joy with happiness, excitement, and even fun. As my son Maxim often says, happiness is overrated. We can say that we are happy or unhappy about something but how often are we expressing true joy over things. In the Bible, the word happy appears around 25 time while the word Joy is seen over 200. So what is the big deal about joy?
Perhaps we should contrast the two words. Think about things that make you happy and then about things that bring you joy. Things that make us happy tend to be temporal and fleeting, but the things that give us joy seem to last. My children do not always make me happy but they always fill me with joy when I see them, speak to them, and hear of their lives.
This year has not been filled with much happiness for me. My beloved Avalon continues to pursue divorce from me and each thought of her is painful, but in those same thoughts I continue to find great joy in my love for her. Is that joy complete or reciprocated? No, but it still lives. My love for her, like Christ’s love for all of us is not based on her actions toward me but on who she is to me. My vows to her were not based on her being a good wife but on my choice to love her for life.
This is so relevant to the joy we sing and talk about a Christmas time. Our joy can be complete in Christ no matter what others do to us. I cannot buy the best gifts, have the party I wish, or celebrate Christmas with in-laws that I love. I can revel in the truth that all these ills will pass away when Christ comes to make all things new. I can find joy in the fact that evil and strife will not always hold sway over the world and in finding that joy I can wish it to others.
It is not my pain that matters but rather who I am in that pain.

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart, prepare him room and heaven and nature sing.”

Wishing you JOY in the journey and a Merry Christmas,

Aramis Thorn