Breaking Barriers-taking a step toward joy
There is a great book called “Living Joy” by Chris Stefanick,
where he gives tangible ways to experience and cultivate a joyful life….which
he describes as different from happiness in that you can suffer in situations
but still have underlying joy.
It occurred to me today that despite tools and steps, that
joy can still escape us. Ultimately, he explains that joy is found in believing
three fundamental facts about Jesus and living accordingly.
My revelation today was that joy is buried deep in each of
us…planted there by God. Just as faith can be easy to find in children, I think
the same is true for joy. Children do not yet have any potential barriers built
(assuming a stable and loving home) around their joyful spirit.
So, in my view, all the tools may not help discover or
unearth that joy if we do not do the tough work to break down and potential
barriers……which could be so many different things. To me, this is what happened
in the book Crossroads written by Paul Young. The character goes through a
transformation, and when he peels away all the layers, he finds joy even though
his earthly is about to end.
All that said, how might we unearth the greatest buried
treasure in ourselves? You might need to renew your faith. You might need counseling.
You might need recovery from a disorder or mental illness. You might even need
some medication to start the process. You might need to build new daily
habits. You might need to go to
confession if you are Catholic. You might need to reconcile with someone which
likely requires some humility and forgiveness. You might need the help of some
friends, family or other people who are prophets sent to help you. I needed it
all to recover from Anorexia, to find my purpose, and to feel joy again (despite
many recent losses during the healing process).
St. Augustine has something to say about this also, “Our
hearts are restless until they rest in you oh God”. God is love and He lives within each of us, and
He is the joy-bringer. Yet, we spend so much time seeking happiness in things
of the world and ironically, these distractions take us further away from true
joy. They actually create obstacles although they might bring fleeting happiness,
but our hearts are not yearning for that. We indeed often are looking for joy
in a misguided way. Finding real, lasting joy might take some work, it might
take a lot of work, but it is all worth it especially in our very troubled
world today.
What about all those books about living joy, well again it cannot
be a thing until we find it. Many of the
books about finding joy are very practice oriented and somewhat similar to
those found in Living Joy. Practice is important and actually can even change
your mindset; there is plenty of evidence to show this, but all the barriers,
walls, and armor must go. If a target is completely blocked, all the most
perfect shots will not get in the goal….and all the best practice at shooting won’t
make a difference either. Break down the walls. Maybe read, Paul Young’s, “Crossroads”
if you need help. Why do I think all of this, because when I was going through
my recovery, I did practice certain things, quiet, gratitude, connection with
friends, resting but all these practices did not lead to joy, they helped lead me
to true healing through counseling. After more work, I found it. Joy. I hope
you find your’ s. I cannot promise it will be quick or easy; everybody’s
journey is different, but it will be worth it and you will know when you find
it.
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