The Joy Refuge | The Possibility Pt. 1
Reseting in Joy as an Ever-Present Possibility
A few years ago, a letter by C.S. Lewis was discovered tucked away in a second-hand book. Can you imagine making that discovery? Written before the release of his memoir Surprised by Joy, the letter offers an early glimpse into his reflections on joy. In it, Lewis wrote:
Real joy jumps under one’s ribs and tickles down one’s back and makes one forget meals and keeps one (delightedly) sleepless o’ nights.
It’s such a vivid image of how joy bubbles up unexpectedly and leaves her mark on us. Later, in Surprised by Joy, Lewis sharpened his vision of joy. He writes:
Joy must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is.
Regardless of whether we make a distinction between joy and happiness in this way, I long for the kind of joy Lewis describes. Don’t you? Not just a flash of happiness or fleeting pleasure—but a deep embodiment of joy that seems to fill every part of you. The kind that jumps inside of us, tickling our ribs, lighting a smile of the mind, and gifting us with laughter of the heart.
But there’s a tension here.
Joy isn’t something we can command ourselves to feel. Because joy speaks in the middle-voice.1 Joy is beyond our control, unlike pleasure, which we often can pursue and grasp. But in the world of the gospel, the good news of great joy, we always live on the threshold of joy—and this makes joy an ever-present possibility.
The Possibility of Joy
While joy is ultimately a gift we receive, there are attitudes and habits that can align our hearts to be more receptive to joy. This week, we’ll begin to look at the moments where joy often shows up—the spaces where she loves to elbow her way in. We’ll explore how we can nurture our lives to be more attuned to the gift of joy, living with anticipation, ready and waiting for the moment when she whispers, “Come! Hear! See! Look what I’m doing!”
We are now at the halfway point of Longing for Joy: An Invitation into the Goodness and Beauty of Life. Well done! This week we begin Part 3: The Possibility of Joy.
Monday → Chapter 12: A Possibility and Chapter 13: Home
Tuesday → Chapter 14: Storytelling and Chapter 15: Wisdom
Wednesday → Chapter 16: People
Thursday → Chapter 17: Emotion
Work through these chapters at any pace you want. But, as you know by now, it helps to have finished the reading plan by 5:30pm PDT on Thursday October 17th for our Virtual Q&A on Zoom. If you haven’t already, register for the Q&A. A reminder will be sent on Thursday morning too.
If you live in Victoria …
Coastline Church is hosting my book launch party and I would love to celebrate with you! Mark your calendar for Wednesday, October 30th at 7:00pm. There’ll be live music, desserts, and I’ll share about why I wrote the book. Please come and say Hi! All the details are available here.
Before you pick up the book: Grab a pen, or open a note on your phone. Here’s something to ponder:
When/where/how do you most naturally experience joy?
Share your thoughts below. I really would love to hear from you and get a conversation going before our Q&A.
Grace and peace to you this week!
See Chapter 2 in Longing for Joy, the theologian Charles Mathewes that joy speaks in the middle voice, making joy solely active (something we do) or passive (something that happens to us) but a dynamic between the two.
I think it is just as important to be aware of the things/people that hinder us from joy and what do we do with that? Do we stop it/them, do we remove it from our lives, do we enable it/them, do we communicate it, do we pray about, do we even know it is affecting our joy, do we know what/that it is actually missing? I know now that I truly was lost that big chunk of my life without knowing I could allow God in my life. I’m so grateful and thankful that he pulled on my heartstrings as they say, even though it did take a long time.