“Joy is the echo of God’s love within us.”
— Blessed Joseph Marmion
It sounds kind of crazy, but lately I’ve had a hard time accepting joy. I feel uncomfortable with it, as though someone had given me a gift I don’t deserve. Of course, I had this feeling pre-Covid. But several months into a global pandemic, the feeling is exacerbated. How can I feel happy when lots of others aren’t? I thought to myself. And then that sense of dread, an I-can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-why feeling that something bad is waiting in the wings—and the proverbial other shoe is about to drop.
Now in my heart I know God wants me to be happy. But just to shake away these negative feelings and to remind myself of the fact, I opened my on-line Bible and typed in “joy.” Reference after reference—246-plus entries popped up. I read about God filling people with joy, wanting our joy to be complete, ending grief with joy, promising no one will take away our joy, telling us to be joyful always, plus dozens of entries where people were shouting to God for joy, drank wine with joy, danced for joy, and had hearts that were swelling, throbbing and literally bursting out of their togas with joy.
So there it was in print. God delights in dispensing joy. And he wouldn’t serve me up a dinner of happiness and follow it with a dessert of pain. It’s not his style. So it stands to reason that if I keep my focus on Him, I can expect to experience pots-full of joy, because there can be no joy without Him. Period. That much I know. Then, too, maybe if I try hard enough, I’ll learn not to be wary of joy, but instead expect it, and accept it with gratitude as a super awesome gift from a God who loves me.
Sure, my devil’s advocate self persisted, but rejoicing in the middle of a pandemic? Really? Isn’t that stretching things?
Not a bit. In fact, in a few weeks, pandemic or no, I (you, and everyone else who makes Jesus the focal point of her life) will have the opportunity to experience a jubilation par non.
That’s when I’ll celebrate what made some shepherds long ago do the Snoopy Happy Dog Dance (they were way ahead of their time) and run like wild donkeys into town to find a small baby in a manger. This child, Jesus, who is joy itself, gave up his cushy seat next to his Father and the Holy Spirit to come to earth to live, suffer, and die, so everyone can, as the hymn reminds us “…live forever because of Christmas Day.”
Okay, so Christmas this year is going to be weird, certainly. We probably won’t be able to gather with family and close friends. Some of us may even still have to zoom church. And we’ll probably have to save the presents mailed to us—the too small sweaters and CVS cologne with the angel tops—for a time when we don’t risk our lives to return them.
Still, as the adage goes: Jesus is the reason for the season. And if celebrating the commemoration of his birth isn’t something to jump up and down, bang pots, and put on a smile that would make an emoji jealous, I don’t know what is.
Oh, and hey, joy to the world. Merry Christmas.
Allia Zobel Nolan is the author of over 150 traditionally published titles. Her books reflect her two main passions: God and cats. Recent titles include Cat Confessions: A Kitty-Come-Clean Tell-All Book (130,000+ copies sold); Whatever Is Lovely: a 90-day Devotional and Journal, (in English and Spanish) The Worrywart’s Prayer Book, Laugh Out Loud:40 Women Humorists Celebrate Then and Now…Before We Forget, winner of the 2019 Indie Book Award for Humor, the classic bestselling children’s book, What I Like About Me: a Book about Differences, and the sequel, What I Like About You: a Book About Acceptance which won a 2020 Indie Book Award for Children’s Picture Books. Her newest title, God Made Us Just Right, from Kregel Publishers, will be out in February 2021, and is available for pre-order now. Learn more at www.AlliaWrites.com
