When Joy was Hiding in my Closet...

I found joy today hiding in my closet. I am not sure how it got in there or how long it stood there waiting for me, but hark—I opened the door and it burst out upon me in such a messy state of dizzying joy that my spirit quite exploded. Why was I so happy? I was just looking for my shoes...but there it was all the same. Sunshine in my soul!

How simple! How easy! Though always welcomed, how unexpected this joy was! If I found joy in my closet where else might it be?

People rely so heavily upon obscure dates within the future for that mysterious key to happiness. When I meet the right man….when I get married…when I finish school…when I get the good job…when I make more money…when I get to have children…when I retire to some sequestered beach under the sun… 

But personally, I feel, if you cannot find happiness in simple things, natural things, things that doesn’t call for any requirement or duty beyond the present, then how can you ever truly be happy with anything? And though you may not admit it, when you chase after joy it will always run away. For there will always be one more goal to allude your grasp. One more thing to attain that holds the promise of ultimate fulfillment. And in this vague, hopeful promise you believe to find that which will lessen the sting of a rather empty and unsatisfying life…

I don’t mean to say in order to live with a heart full of life you must get tickled over pine-cones or read Jane Austen books or drown in the delightful indulgence of a soft pillow like I do…all I am saying is that when you truly accept yourself, when you feel the steadiness of God’s love, and you learn to completely cast your future into his hands—a peaceful sort of joy will inevitably follow. And though evening walks or balloons or bursting out in random Grease songs may have been fun before, you will be elevated to a new level of enjoyment which will enable you not only to enjoy simple pleasures, but make great pleasures so much deeper and satisfying. 

God means for us to be happy and joyful! Every day he grants me life longer upon this earth the more I am prodigiously confident of this fact!

And thus relates all the thoughts which came upon me when joy burst out my closet!