As I look at photos of my parents, there is a radiance still shining in their eyes. Today it dawned on me…this is joy! It’s with sadness that I’m beginning to understand something about joy. In its truest sense, this soul-deep quality is inextricably linked with suffering. (This sadness I’m afraid is an indicator of my still immature faith because it’s short-sighted, not looking far enough to see the ultimate reward of joy.)
As my parents knew from age and experience, the closer they were drawn to Jesus, the more they discovered that this joy produced by the Spirit of God is so far beyond simple happiness.
Joy is like wings of flight carrying you over a rocky precipice or skirting across waves of the deep with ease and courage. Joy is a fullness of life like a warm sunrise. As with everything else about God and His unreachable ways, it seems these mysteries unlocked to the seeking soul on the narrow, difficult way always lead to a promised reward, blessing or revelation beyond anything imaginable. If only we continue on the way by trusting Christ daily! Like my parents did.
Early in the 20th century, a once-YMCA staffer and college lecturer, Oswald Chambers, wrote, “Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them…. The things that we try to avoid and fight against – tribulation, suffering, and persecution – are the very things that produce abundant joy in us…. A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it…. The undiminished radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can change.”
So, as I learn to follow the way with Christ, I’ll remember the eyes of my mom and dad – the radiance of true joy!
