The Roots of Joy

Joy. Joy is both exciting and elusive. We all want joy because we yearn to feel happy, to feel good. But, often joy seems just out of reach as we grasp for it. We yearn nostalgically for days past when we remember feeling joy at Christmas. We remember the colourful lights, the sweet cookies, the shiny presents. But none of that is where the joy we remember came from. All of those things came and went, but that’s not joy’s nature. Joy grows from a deep foundation, a rootedness. It lasts the tests of time because even when everything above ground is destroyed, the roots remain, biding their time, growing unseen. Joy is planted by a sense of belonging, a sense of coming home, a sense of being seen. Some of us experience this with our human families. All of us can experience this through Jesus. When Jesus was born, God dwelled among us and made a home with us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s presence in Jesus brings us the foundations of joy—with God we are seen, with God we belong, with God we are home. From this foundation, joy grows in many forms for each of us. No matter what comes to pass, the deep rooted foundation of joy in Jesus remains. Sometimes we don’t see it, but it is always there. This is why, in Christ, we are often surprised by joy.

May the presence of Christ lift you into joy this Advent season.