Joy

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.
~ G. K. Chesterton

I am a silly human and the older I get the more silly I think that I become. I am amused endlessly by the little things in life and I find great joy in things such as simply drinking a cup of coffee. Sometimes I wonder if I'm not becoming too simplistic, too easily pleased, too out of touch with the pain of this world. As I think on this I realize that I believe that it's fully okay to enjoy silliness in each and every day. I say this because I really believe that God is a God of joy - it's part of His character too! So when I am able to sit back and enjoy the wind blowing through the trees or the taste of a freshly baked cookie I'm being blessed by God and my joy reflects gratitude back to Him. Plus there are many many moments of intense thought and reflection and prayer in my life so it's not as though I've just thrown everything out the window and gone full on into silliness! It's just a part of my life that I see growing and that makes me happy.

I won't say that there are not times of intense hardship and struggle in my life. I would be lying if I did. In the midst of them though, I still have moments of joy because God is still waking the sun up each morning and allowing the birds to sing. I don't want to be a Christian who mopes through life and can't sing out loud or dance when the time just seems right (granted I try to confine that to my own home but I've been known to skip down a street or two and twirl in circles in a park). Life is too short to be constantly weighed down by the struggles of this world and I want to maintain that childlike joy. Struggles are a given in this life but I believe that we can still find joy because God is still in control and working behind the scenes.

I love the idea of God joyfully anticipating the rise of the sun in the morning and the fall of it in the evening. I love thinking that God is joyful in the midst of the struggles of this world, joyful not because He loves what is happening to His creation but joyful because He knows that at the end of time there will be no more tears and things will be made new again. He's joyful in the small things and joyful in the big things. I'm so glad that I serve a cheerful, imaginative God!