Can We Live a Life of Joy in the Midst of Melancholy Circumstances?

Joy. I remember sitting in church as a child hearing a pastor speak about the difference between happiness and joy, how happiness is an emotional feeling in the midst of good circumstances while joy is a sense of being, a definition more of where one is in life.

Fast-forward thirty years, and I am just now understanding what he was talking about. Lifestyle vs life. Taking a path vs drifting along. A worthy life filled with the worthwhile.

I'm believing more and more that joy is connected to investment, the giving over of personal capital to others. Whether that capital be time, activity, emotion, caring; whatever the assets one has in a life, giving and sharing it with others only serves to enrich and strengthen you.

I've found in this last year that there is an almost limitless number of people who are open to this type of investment. I've decided to invest in being as open as I can be about the details of my life situation, struggles, and decisions I will make. My life is an easy one lived in the muck of contentment, and I want it to be transformed into a life of joy. This is starkly different than a smiling-Born-Again drone, and it's the antithesis of the giddy-God's-Will optimist.

No, the life I want to build is one of delight, of joy. Life is a long time to be sure, but it is also each day, each moment of interaction, each touch of a hand to hair, of an eye to an eye, of the caress of a soul.

I don't think this joy is a switch to be flicked on when the endorphins drop or pressures start mounting or we start feeling overwhelmed. This joy is about the wonderment of life in the everyday.

I hope today will be that day of joy wherever I am and wherever you are.