Joy

      This week we celebrate Joy.  Joy is not a synonym of happiness.  Joy is a choice, a place within, and internal peace.  Joy is acceptance of the truth of who we are – imperfect, complicated, and deeply loved by our Creator.  Joy is knowing this Love. So this week, let’s make space for what is filled with joy durning this sacred time.    

Waken in Me a Sense of Joy

by Ted Loder

O extravagant God,
in this ripening, quiet darkness,
waken in me a sense of joy
     in just being alive;
joy for nothing in general
     except for everything in particular;
joy in sun and rain
     mating with earth, to birth a harvest;
joy in soft light
     through the leafless trees;
joy in the acolyte moon
     setting halos around passing clouds;
joy in the beating of a thousand wings
     mysteriously knowing which way is warm;
joy in wagging tails and kids’ smiles
     and in this spunky old city;
joy in the taste of bread and wine,
     the smell of dawn,
          a touch,
               a song,
                    a presence;
joy in having what I cannot live without –
     other people to hold and cry and laugh with;
joy in love,
     in you;
and that all at first and last
     is grace.

 Words to Ponder:  Joy

So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.   John 16:22

You will teach me how to live a holy life.  Being with you will fill me with joy;  at your right hand I will find pleasure forever. Psalm 16:11

Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing—sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death—can take that love away…. Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us.  – Henri Nouwen

 True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.  - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Joy, feeling one's own value, being appreciated and loved by others, feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous value for the human soul.   - Maria Montessori

 Doing one thing by yourself, for yourself, that creates joy is such an important habit.  - Jay Shetty