The Choice of Joy
“Joy does not happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” Henri Nouwen
Karl was a dear friend in Seminary. He had one arm and one hand. He lost the other in a freak accident as a child. Karl was single, an engineer by training, who had been called to ministry. I consider him one of the most joyful people I know. He taught me how to be happy in Jesus, to trust and obey our Joyful Master.
I learned from Karl that joy is a daily decision we make. just like focusing on misery is a choice, a spirit-deadening choice.
He often came to our apartment, ate our hummus and homemade pita bread. We shared lots of conversations about Jesus, about his life and ours. True communion. He was a delight to be around.
When our twins were born, Karl pampered them and bought them gifts. His simplicity was catchy, his demeanor, cheerful. I never heard Karl complain, even when I thought his essays deserved better grades. He was learning; that was enough for him.
To be around Karl was to be around a person whose inner being was pervaded by a sense of joy that stemmed from a deep trust in God’s love and goodness to him. Every paper Karl wrote he managed to infuse it with joy, even when he wrote about weighty issues of our faith.
Godly joy visited Karl, found a welcoming heart and chose to abide there. I wanted to be like him.
Karl is a testimony to what Paul promised: "For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
(Romans 14:17) Karl reminded me often of joyful Jesus and the present reality of the kingdom. He was super-motivated to live with gladness in his heart. Even with one arm missing!
What does it take to be joyful?
1. A vision of a joyful life as an everlasting relationship with the Trinity. Jesus taught us that
eternal living is now in session. It starts when we are born from God. John makes it as clear as can be: To know God is to know everlasting living (17:3). The Baltimore Catechism asks and answers: “Why did God make me? … God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him and to be happy with him forever.” As my neighbor used to reply when I asked him how he’s doing: “Shucks, Georges, it don’t get no better than this!”
Picture yourself being with Jesus permanently, learning from him how to be like him: loving the Trinity, serving God by serving others, and being happy doing it. That’s a vision worth having.
Try phrasing your own vision. Paint a picture of who you truly are and where you want to be on your journey with God. He made you an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe, a huge cause for joy.
2. Get and stay motivated. I saw this in Karl. He made it a point to be joyful. He intended joy.
I find if I don’t intend to do something it doesn’t get done. Karl had an unwavering commitment to live joyfully despite his limitation, a one-armed follower of Jesus. His vision fueled his motivation to joy.
3. Vision or insight, intention or motivation are not enough to get us from A (where
you are now on the path of joy) to B (a vision of joyful living day in and day out). Vision and intention must run on tracks that lead to change. A path of change is necessary. Alcoholics Anonymous works because the path of the vision of sobriety is clear: Get honest with yourself (including confession), surrender, (give up on trying to change yourself) and join community.
Life with God offers us an array of soul training exercises for transformation. Prayer (our openness to the presence and power of God), studying the life and teachings of Jesus, inspiration by fellow-travelers ancient and modern, and practicing other disciplines of the Christian life like worship, fellowship, serving, and witnessing.
A caution: it may be painful at times, just like Karl found it painful some days to be a one-armed man (before technology afforded ways of overcoming handicaps). He chose joy over complaint. He determined to stick close to Jesus, learned joy from him, and persevered to the end.
