I don’t seem to do “joy” very well. Most people seem to associate the feeling of “joy” with this definition I found: “Intense and especially ecstatic or exultant happiness, or an instance of such feeling.”
I find that I experience joy more like this definition that I found: “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” The synonym they offer with this definition is “delight”.
I feel delighted a lot more often now than I did in the past. I feel successful, and I’m on the cusp of achieving one of my lifelong objectives. It’s a weird feeling for me, but I like it.
In the past I tended to ruin the times I felt joy by actively looking for the other shoe I knew would be dropping. Something to mess up what I had achieved or what I was enjoying. I let that proactive seeking of disaster mess up a lot of good times.
In this season that is awash in so many emotions and so many entities trying to pluck our heartstrings I hope that you do your best to take delight in a smell, enjoy the warm wishes someone sends you, close your eyes to focus on a Christmas song, reach out and touch someone, and open your eyes to take in the colors around you as God’s creation celebrates the birth of his son!
Bonus material:
Bible Project word study: Joy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72YyijJQgoU
Joy to the World (Joyful, Joyful) by Phil Wichkham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLEfxk4gKz4
Ted Talk: Where Joy Hides And How To Find It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_u2WFTfbcg
