How Important is Joy to You?

While waiting for the flood of book club responses to pour in...

I interact every day with lots of very dedicated, responsible people, and one of the hazards of being a dedicated, responsible person is that one can become a bit grim.  Suddenly everything seems to have very high stakes and I and so many of my friends and colleagues so desperately want to do a good job. 

And yet whenever I'm still enough to feel as though I'm connecting with God, God often seems to be far jollier than I am.  (As of course he would be--he has all resources and perspective!  The unfairness of it all!)  And one way God seems to dial down some of my friends is to remind them that there's no downside to whatever it is they're doing.  Some of us are trying a little fasting during Lent.  And I've heard from several people that the way fasting works for them is that it can't become a test of their spiritual mettle.  If it goes well, fabulous.  If it falters, get right back on.  I often feel as though I bite off more than I can chew with a given project, leaving God to have to remind me that it's fine, that there's no downside one way or another, that he'll work it out.

How about you?  How do you find your way to joy from "responsibility?"  Or is that not the most important thing for you?

Comments

[leah]

Ha! I was just meditating on how I failed my "fast from internet video" yesterday, but how that hour of mindless video watching was the BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME this week. Also? Lots of funny videos on this here internet. So, yeah, I'd agree there's definite upside to failing at responsibility

[kim]

Just this morning in prayer God reminded me how serious and intense I can be around certain big and small things working out. I have a lot of stuff to get done today and I was asking for his hand in this. I definitely sensed God's lightness and joy in looking down at all. He gently reminded me to let him go before me in all things, and to remember I'm not alone. I immediately felt better. It's a good day to start the day.

[Trish Ryan]

This morning, I was encouraged (and attitudinally recalibrated) by the place in Ephesians where Paul says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

If God prepared something in advance for me to do, than he must have a plan to connect me with what it will take to get it done. That leaves a whole lot more room for joy in situations where, without this promise, grim drivenness would seem the only responsible choice.

[Jeff]

I needed this today...

[Holly]

I'm having a reaction that even I don't understand. My prayer for the Leap of Faith is that I'll be able to enjoy myself (and enjoy being myself), but I haven't quite figured out how/whether to fast. That uncertainty is leading to me feeling like I'm failing, though I'm not entirely sure there's anything to fail. I have trouble being convinced that there's no downside, because I'm so good at imagining downsides -- call it a gift. But maybe that means I'm praying for the right thing.

[Luke]

The Joy discussion connects me to a recent post on whether or not Stage 4-terminology is always the most helpful. And now I am going to beat that terminology to a pulp with overuse: When I find myself reacting against what I perceive as the stage-2-ness of certain churches or individuals, I think I'm headed to the stage-3 territory. Reaction, rebellion, and false superiority. When I can get past that, and focus on what is good, when I can take delight in others, in God, in the act of following, or in the world around me, that starts to seem more like stage 4 for me. I'm trying to learn how to get into Delight mode faster and better.

All that to say: Yeah. Keeping my eye out for the joy in this endeavor is super important to me. Some times I slog through something hard or unpleasant in faith that it will lead to joy, but if I lose site of that end goal, I very often fall off whatever wagon I'm trying to ride. I suppose this is true to anyone who wants to lose weight, pray for something, or run a marathon, its not new or profound. I like the "serious but not strict" approach to fasting because it acknowledges that there is this pitfall of religious misery that can pull us out of the upside of fasting, or any other spiritual effort.

[Theresa Musante]

I haven't figured out what I want to say about Imitation of Christ yet, but this conversation reminds me of something I read there recently. "Do not let anything you do seem very important to you. Let nothing seem great, nothing precious or admirable, nothing sophisticated, nothing high, nothing really worth having, except that which is eternal."

The part of me that wants to do big ambitious things balks at this. If nothing I do is important to me, will I ever get it done? And doesn't God call us to be part of big and important things? I think he does - but if we take our part too seriously it can lead to grimness.

Which makes me think that a'Kempis must be onto to something - something that probably leads to more God and more joy - but I still don't exactly know what to do with this.

[Prashant]

The Talmud tells us that one will have to give account in the judgment day of every good thing which one might have enjoyed and did not. Hyperbolic perhaps, but a good reminder & a daunting one for me. Perhaps a good sacrifice is seeking joy with determination, or working hard to be mindful of what steals joy away.

[Jeannie]

ha! dave! you touch such a nerve for me today. i wish i had read your blog before i emailed brian housman my sob story of how overwhelmed i sometimes feel during this leap of faith while trying to juggle 301 (small group leadership course), reading imitation of christ, beginning j. scott mcelroy's new book (he lectured at the vineyard’s dome gallery tuesday on Finding Divine Inspiration: Working with the Holy Spirit in Your Creativity), working full time at Boston University in admissions, during the height of application season, taking Brian's bible study class AND trying to paint in my studio at night. but guess what? we are studying Philippians in brian’s bible study! talk about joy and a leap of faith! paul wrote about joy and faith from jail! forgive me jesus for thinking i have a full plate and replace it instead with how much I have to be grateful for! ;D

[Dave Schmelzer]

Wow, Jeannie, I have some barbells to move up to my attic--could I get you over sometime soon to take care of that? My goodness, what a season for you! May you indeed find joy and gratitude (in the middle of all the base humility The Imitation of Christ will draw out of you...).