Joy

    Joy entered my life this year.  It drove out the banked gray clouds whose atmospheric weight kept me earthbound.  Like helium filling a balloon, joy has sent my soul soaring.

    Why?  Only God knows the full answer.  Maybe the presence of joy cannot be broken down into its individual components or reasonably explained.  After all, it is a fruit of the Spirit.  But why this fruit at this time?

    It was a very long growing period before joy blossomed.  Perhaps you could call it years of root work, the tunneling deep into the darkness required for a steady base, unexpectedly followed by hurricane-force winds that eventually uprooted me and required a replanting by the Gardener.

    From seed to sprout to sapling to fruit-bearing tree:  that is the Spirit’s work.  How He waters us, prunes us, lets parts die until we fear that no life will be left is a mystery, just as mysterious as the new life that suddenly blossoms into sweet fruit.

    I do not know all the ways God has produced this unexpected fruit that I now savor each day, always surprised by its sweetness.  But gradually I have come to recognize that music and writing have given me ground for joy.  The music, for years neglected, is praise.  Praise is spontaneous, but steady practice makes it deep as well.  Writing tills the soil for joy to grow.  Sharing both does not allow me to burrow underground or linger under the weight of clouds but nudges me toward the sun (the Son!) into the free and open space called agape that God has always intended and I have always feared.