Digging a Well for Joy

Advent Week 3—JOY

By Paul Steiner, senior pastor

Luke 2:10

“Behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Romans 12:15

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

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Digging a Well for Joy

By Paul Steiner

There is a difference between possessing joy, experiencing joy and expressing joy. Each build on the other. Yet people may possess a deep well of joy and not constantly express it in public. Lest we continue to think these people are the lessor of us, let me explain the distinctions. My hope is that meditating on these thoughts will help you to rejoice with those who are rejoicing and, as the advent season demonstrates, mourn with a world waiting for Christ in darkness.

It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that my family brings me joy. I possess a deep sense of happiness, fulfillment, pleasure, and delight because of who we are. When Meagan walks into church with August I experience the joy that I already possess. My whole body responds to their presence with an alert awareness of the goodness of family. And then my face, voice and body express my joy. This is what others see and experience. But the lack of expression doesn’t mean I don’t possess the joy. It means that there has not yet been an occasion to rouse the joy from its well. A gift we can give others are experiences that arouse joy. Traveling home for the holidays is a common experience at Christmas that arouses joy. Those experiences can also be dinners together, a thoughtful text, or even chores done without being asked.

I do believe there are some who possess more joy than others. Not as a personality trait, but a response to life. For myself, I am constantly smiling, but that has very little to do with my joy. For decades it was a mask for anxiety. But these days I can say I possess  a deep well of joy in my soul. Yes, it’s because Jesus loves me. But there’s much more to my story and yours.

The poet Kahil Gabran wrote: 

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain….

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

I understand that it is because of the deep sorrow of family that I possess a deep joy in family. And this is repeated with the church, which has caused me great sorrow but is a great joy. And my health which failed me in seasons and then literally brings me to breathtaking mountaintops in others. The capacity to possess joy in these areas of life has been expanded by my times of sorrow. And it is the work of God that allows such a miracle.

So I pray that you would not fear sorrow, for the Word says in Psalm 30:5 “Though sorrow may endure for the night, But joy comes in the morning.” And I ask the Holy Spirit to cause the times of weeping to dig a well within you to be filled with joy in its time. And when you rejoice may others rejoice with you!