Reflection on Joy
- quietspacesplymout
- Sep 2
- 4 min read
Today I am reflecting on joy. I will be drawing from various authors including the incredible meeting of Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama in 2015, where they showed that it was indeed possible to experience joy whilst suffering ourselves and witnessing suffering in others.
I can recommend the book that came from this meeting - ‘The Book of Joy’ by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It is available in book form, Kindle and Audible on Amazon
I will start with a quote form The Little Book of Joy by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Rafael López:
‘Joy is the warm tingly feeling of the sun tickling your toes in the morning.
It's the giggly, squiggly feeling when you are doing something silly.
Even when you wake to the rain and your joy is washed away, it's waiting at the bottom of the puddle ….. Joy is never far away. Even in hard times, joy never truly disappears. And when we share our joy with others, it grows inside us.
His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rafael López, The Little Book of Joy,
I really love that description. Joy is hard to describe but I think this quote helps get to the essence of how it feels.
So where do we find joy, or does joy find us? Or do we need a certain state of mind for it to come naturally to us? Before I became a Christian I can think of periods in my life of feeling joyful – but they were not triggered by any external happy event, it was a feeling inside which accompanied me day by day. But these feelings never lasted. Since becoming a Christian and I feel sure I have the joy of God – from God being in my heart – and it is a long lasting joy.
Desmond Tutu states
“The joy that you are talking about is not just a feeling. It’s not something that just comes and goes. It’s something much more profound….. Many people are waiting for happiness or joy. When they get a job, when they fall in love, when they get rich, then they will be happy, then they will have joy. You are talking about something that is available right now, without waiting for anything.’
Margaret Silf says:
‘Happiness sometimes lies on the roadside of our lives, easily gathered in parcels of pleasure.. Maybe happiness can even be a barrier in our search for deeper joy—a seductive cul-de-sac that can tempt us to settle for less, when God longs to give us more.
Silf, Margaret. Compass Points: Meeting God Every Day at Every Turn (p. 214). Loyola Press. Kindle Edition.
We do live in a world where external success and happiness is seen as desirable. We tend to have a surge of happiness when we achieve success, or something happens to make us happy Have you noticed how long that happiness lasts? The novelty wears off and your happiness level returns to its former level.
But joy is different – it is not triggered by external events or acquisitions. I think of joy as in inner feeling – a feeling not prompted by anything in particular. A feeling which is sustained through the daily ups and downs of life. A feeling that does not come from the brain, but rather the heart.
Last year I had a profound experience when I was licensed as a licensed lay minister for the Church of England at Exeter Cathedral. I was asked whether I was looking forward to the service by many, to whom I would reply no! I thought of it as just a formality. However, this day brought a profound change in me – a deep inner joy which still lasts. It almost felt like I had found God again. I felt a quiet, and calm joy. God was not in the wind, nor the earthquake, or the fire, but rather a ‘gentle whisper’ (1 Kings 19:11–13). A gentle whisper that entered my heart – and stayed.
Can joy be maintained through sorrow?
Margaret Silf states that ‘joy lies on the other side of sorrow, just as the sweetest fruits often grow on the other side of the thorn hedge’
Silf, Margaret. Compass Points: Meeting God Every Day at Every Turn (p. 214). Loyola Press. Kindle Edition.
Silf also asks if the Samaritan woman at the well would ever have met Jesus if she’d had a water supply at home? She continues asking ‘Perhaps we should be asking God not to supply our wants, but to dwell within them’
It makes you think doesn’t it. I certainly feel that the inner joy of God can sustain us through our bad times. It may not take away the pain, but perhaps helps us deal with it.
I will finish with a poem by Jan Richardson called How Joy Works – A Blessing
HOW JOY WORKS - A Blessing
You could not stop it
if you tried—
how this blessing
begins to sing
every time it sees
your face,
how it turns itself
in wonder
merely at the mention
of your name.
It is simply
how joy works,
going out to you
when you least expect,
running up to meet you
when you had not thought
to ask.
Jan Richardson
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