enjoying the journey

There is no doubt that all human beings go through troubles in this life, some quite severe. Add to that for us in Jesus the trials that go with seeking to be a true follower of Jesus in this life. There's little escape from all of that, and we don't do well unless we're willing to walk through them with God who has promised to be with us in Jesus as our Help always and to the end.

But thankfully there is much to enjoy in the journey of life. In this part of the world autumn is beginning to set in, and with that we will see the change of colors of the leaves, and hopefully some good Indian summer days to come. We enjoy the companionship of our spouses or close friends, as well. I think we especially enjoy all of this, when we realize that it is a gift, and not to be taken for granted. We often don't know what we have until we have to do without it. But we need to appreciate these gifts while we have them, and not only with longing reflection for them, when they are no more.

So hopefully by God's grace we can see the good from him all around us, and with each other. And we can enjoy this well, in a way that is pleasing to God and to us. I love the prospect of another warm day, knowing that Winter will all too soon be on us. But even then I want to find the good, God's beauty and provision in this wonderful world he has made, and in the good gifts he continually gives us, big and little, and nearly everywhere we turn, even in this world.

What would you like to add here?

joy

In seeing our granddaughter Morgan crawling and standing as she held on to something, swinging her arms with her smiles, and expressing herself with words that are not yet intelligible to us, I was hit with pure joy.

If you know me, you know I've struggled some in my life with depression. Again the numbness of depression had descended on me in recent days. But seeing Morgan lifted my spirits and banished my depression so that the numbness was gone. And later hearing how God has helped my sister, Maxine, was a blessing as well.

Joy is built into life, if we have the eyes to see it. Yes, we live in a fallen world, impacted to its core by sin. But we know by faith that Jesus won and wins the day. And that victory of God begins even now, in this life. So that we can go beyond the joy in creation to where it points: the joy of the new creation in Jesus which will last forever.

Of course we're back to this life. A life filled with problems, difficulties, trials and sometimes tragedies. But even here, besides the common joy we share from our Creator, we can begin to experience the joy we find in the abundant life given in Jesus. A joy which is beyond circumstances, which like Paul said can accompany even sorrow. A joy unruffled in the depths of our being. Only because it is something beyond us, secure in Jesus. A joy from God which gives us strength for our days.

Much more to say on joy. Part of the fruit of the Spirit and part of the kingdom of God reality and experience. 

What would you like to add on this from your own life or thoughts?

God with us

This Advent season we celebrate the coming and birth of God-with-us, Emmanuel, in Jesus. This was striking to me yesterday at work. Started out as an ordinary day. But ended up extraordinary as it wasn't just me and my friend working together, but actually three of us. God was surely with us.

God makes his Presence and Reality known in the Person of Jesus. He continues to do this today by the Spirit. When this happens all is touched with a sense of God's Presence. It may look the same, but it isn't. Every child of God through faith in Jesus knows what I speak of here. It's just that yesterday it was unusually palpable to me, or at least I sensed the reality of it. It certainly added a joy and charm to the day.

Later on I struggled over some anxiety issue, which I later overcame, but in so struggling I lost that sense of the Lord's Presence, even though he certainly was and always still is present with us. It is wonderful though, especially in company with another believer, to know something of the Lord's Presence with us, God with us in Jesus.

Maybe you would like to share something about this from your own life. Or any thoughts.

hilarity and joy

At our work place we're known for carrying on in certain kind of ways off and on during the day. Most of the day is serious stuff, work that keeps one on their toes and moving. I like to have my Bible open, at times with my Greek New Testament, as I seek to ponder God's word, as Mary did, so I can be hopefully on the same page God would have me on, in living out God's will in Jesus, or seeing that worked out in my life. And praying. One can't underestimate the value there is in having a job during which you can spend some significant intervals in prayer. So even though it's a factory job, albeit in a good, solid ministry, there is much for me to be thankful for.

But one can get down, and bored at times through the seeming mundaneness of it all. And yesterday I just couldn't seem to connect with God, not really getting God's word well, what I was on, though the exercise in itself was good. Not seeming to be in sync with God, struggling in praying for others, though maybe I was getting somewhere with that. But compared to other days, in a general malaise and even out of sorts, just not getting it.

But then hilarity and unexpected joy came. Where this hilarity comes from, I really don't know, because sometimes it seems to come out of the depths of inward difficulty. But I have my "patented" way of "singing" Simon and Garfunkel's great song, "The Sounds of Silence", (others are picking up on it!) and we were getting into another song as well as acting rather crazy. Plus we got some good names sometimes of people (and churches, at times) on our address labels for the mailings that sound funny in our ears. We just completely lose it, sometimes our laughter just doubles us up completely. And of course the humor surrounding Sunday NFL football here in Michigan has added a new chapter this year (thankfully it's only a game! (: ).

As we were carrying on all day, with really a good spirit, having worked through one difficult team issue earlier during the day in a way that surely, for all its imperfections, was pleasing to the Lord, it just seemed like joy took over. It seemed like I was in the Spirit, in some measure so. The ride home with the neighbor I carpool with seemed to be one of joy. Being at home is joy, but had the added sense I was carrying over from work.

Hilarity (which Dietrich Bonhoeffer considered important) and joy. How wonderful to live with a God in a world as sad and tragic as this world is, but to be able to not only weep in and with this world, but to be able to experience hilarity even with accompanying joy. This is part of our life in Jesus.

What would you like to add to these thoughts?

joy found in Jesus

It's natural for us to want to find joy in circumstances or in the good things God has created. Indeed, Scripture tells us that God fills people's hearts with joy over the blessings he pours on both the righteous and the unrighteous. And that God's goodness is meant to lead people to repentance.

But real, lasting joy, which is not dependent on circumstances- good in a fallen world- can only be found in God through Jesus Christ. Joy is found in the Lord Jesus.

Of course joy itself is not strictly speaking just being happy over circumstances. Though it includes happiness. But it's a joy that is happy because it participates in something more wonderful than anything this good, old creation has to offer. Not to denigrate or put down this old creation, because it is good, God made it, it is never to be despised, as it points us to God, and God gives us richly all things of his creation to enjoy. But we look forward to something even greater in Christ. We look forward to the redemption of the old creation into the new creation in Jesus.

This begins now, in this life, in this old creation, in Jesus. If anyone is in Christ, there is already a new creation. Here, the old creation has gone, and the new in Jesus has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). A joy which goes on, even when we are not happy and sorrowing, is found in Jesus. We need to approach life in this way, that we will find our deepest and lasting joy in the Lord. This spills over so that we more appreciate the good things of this life God has given. But it is never dependent on them, or even on good circumstances.

Yesterday at work, as I sought to slowly go over Scripture with formation and transformation as my goal, not information gathering, and as I sought by grace to live in accord with the Jesus Creed and the "Our Father" prayer, I experienced a joy which became more evident and I expressed it in song as well as in just being crazy me, while seeking to serve the Lord and others, in Jesus.

In the end in Jesus, we will be living in a glorious outpouring of love and joy, righteousness and peace. But this new life in Jesus begins now, in this old world, in the midst of our old existence with its problems, including our shortcomings and sins. Encouraging, and not dependent on how we feel or our circumstances. Easier for me to say than for many others, and only by God's grace can we experience this, but we must remember that nothing at all in this life can separate us from the love of God we find in Jesus our Lord.

What might you like to add to this?