Embracing Joy As A Spiritual Practice

-




Last Sunday night, I was invited by friends to attend a 50th anniversary screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which also featured an appearance by John Cleese, one of the original members of the comedy troupe.  

The truth is, I haven't had a ton of fun lately.  I work a lot. I live alone with my cat, and I work a lot.  Don't get me wrong, I love my job and have a lot of fun doing it, but I haven't been getting out much lately to do things that aren't work-related.  

Also, I haven't sold my house in a year, which has its own level of buzzkill.  

Which was why last Sunday night was so meaningful to me.  I laughed, quoted a bunch of lines from the movie as it played, and sat in awe as I had the chance to listen to one of my lifelong heroes talk and answer questions. 

It was pure joy.  

When you aren't accustomed to feeling pure joy and then experience it, it's almost overwhelming.  It also got me thinking.  Why is it so hard for us to find and experience joy sometimes?  

Joy can feel elusive when life is heavy. Hardship, grief, and stress have a way of narrowing our vision until we forget what it feels like to delight in God’s presence. 

Yet Scripture reminds us that joy is not merely a fleeting feeling—it is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and a strength that sustains us. Nehemiah proclaimed to a weary people, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

Author Jaqui Lewis puts it this way: 

“Joy is an essential need for the thriving of the human spirit. Without it, we are diminished and too often left with the festering of our wounds, resentments, and fears. Joy is that feeling of well-being, pleasure, and happiness that accompanies us as we move through life. It alters the way we see the world, its people, and ourselves.” 

Her words remind us that joy is not optional—it is essential. Without it, we risk living out of wounds and fears instead of hope and love.

Practicing joy does not mean ignoring pain; instead, it means embracing it with a deeper understanding. 

Even the psalmist cried out, “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Joy is not about pretending everything is fine; it is about opening ourselves to God’s presence in every moment, trusting that grace and beauty can be found even in struggle. 

Jesus himself taught his disciples, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).

When we embrace joy as a spiritual discipline—something to return to daily in prayer, gratitude, laughter, music, or simply noticing the good around us—we find that it reshapes us. It alters how we see the world, others, and ourselves, just as Lewis describes. 

Joy becomes a wellspring of resilience, enabling us to endure trials and continue to hold onto hope.

Make joy your practice. Cultivate it as intentionally as you do prayer or Scripture reading. In doing so, you will find a strength that allows you to withstand life’s challenges with grace and hope.

Prayer

Gracious God,
Teach me to embrace joy as Your gift and my strength. When life feels heavy, remind me of Your presence and goodness. Help me to see glimpses of beauty even in hard times, and let joy rise within me as a daily practice of faith. Amen.

Reflection Questions

  1. When have you experienced joy even in the middle of a difficult season?

  2. What daily practices help you open your heart to God’s joy?

  3. How might joy reshape the way you see others and yourself this week?


Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! If you comment Anonymously, your comment will summarily be deleted.

Popular posts from this blog

Rich Mullins' Life & Legacy

-
Image
Rich Mullins was among the most influential Christian musical artists in the 80s and 90s.  His songs Awesome God  and Step by Step  were staples in the early 90s for worship bands in churches with "contemporary" worship services.  His songs have been recorded by artists like Amy Grant, Caedmon's Call, Jars of Clay, and others.    After spending years at the pinnacle of success as a popular Christian artist, Mullins became fed up with the Christian music industry and evangelical Christianity.   He moved to a Navajo reservation to teach music to kids and to work on projects near and dear to his heart like his collaboration with like-minded artists in the Ragamuffin Band.  Someone asked him if he moved to the reservation to proselytize the Navajo, and Mullins emphatically told them he wasn't.  In fact, he said that he was hoping to find Jesus there among them.  Mullins was tragically killed in 1997 in a car accident on the way to a ben...
Read more

Rapha & Yada - "Be Still & Know": Reimagined

-
Image
One of the most well-used verses in the Bible comes to us from Psalm 46:10, which reads like this:  He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;     I will be exalted among the nations,     I will be exalted in the earth.” That one line---"Be still, and know that I am God"---finds its way into greeting cards, wall art, church signs and the like.  And it sounds so nice, doesn't it?  But what does it actually mean ? What does it mean to be still  and know  that God is God?  Well, to dig deeper into that phrase to see what it's really saying, I'm going to have to bust out some Hebrew--so, don't hold it against me. The Hebrew word that's used here for the phrase "be still" is the word  rapha. And get this... It means "to hang limp, sink down, be feeble."  That's a heckuva lot different than what we usually take the phrase "be still" to mean, right? I don't know about you, but whenever I have heard that verse ...
Read more

The Lord Needs It: Lessons From A Donkey

-
Image
This Sunday is Palm Sunday---the beginning of Holy Week. It's also one of those Sundays when you can't ignore the church calendar and just preach whatever you want.  I am sure that some people do just that, but they probably aren't Presbyterian, and I am sure that the liturgical rhythm of the Church is not first and foremost in their mind. And they probably have had no trouble at all working on their sermon this week. I'm not one to blindly follow tradition, but there are some things that you just don't do---and you can't just ignore  the story of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.   But this leads to a bit of a quandary...  In the short time I have been doing this whole preaching thing I have gone through the Palm Sunday story a few times.  After a while you sort of wonder if your congregation has heard your Palm Sunday riff a few too many times. That sermon needs to get preached, though.  While we celebrate the che...
Read more