JOY IS WHERE YOU LEAST EXPECT IT

We live in a world where more is merrier and big is better. We believe happiness is all about the glimmer and the glamour, the excitement and the thrills, people seem to jump from one sensation to the next in search of joy. From shopping to clubbing, parties and vacations, we seem to never get enough of them. But are we happy with what we have? Have our activities brought us joy or just plain fatigue?

The problem of looking for joy in these things is, like getting drunk, the feelings are all gone the next day we wake up. And like a drunk, we start to go again in a spree. And the futile cycle goes on and on. We all know that worldly things can never give us lasting happiness, but we still want to prove it ourselves and so we waste our time and in the end, we waste our lives.

So where can we find joy? It starts with a “J” and ends in “Us”. We find joy in Jesus. Jesus is our joy, in this life and the next. Jesus too is our guide in finding joy. His life is a map to finding real and everlasting happiness.

Together with the Resurrection, Christmas is the most joyful event in history. It is when Divine Joy became flesh and dwelt among us. He did not enter the world in wealth, power and privilege. He entered poorly and humbly. The shepherd and the wise men did not find joy in the castle of Herod, but in a cave out of nowhere. They did not saw Joy wrapped in gold but in swaddling clothes. Joy is found where you least expect it.

Real joy does not come from stuff-ing yourself, nor going from one high to the next. You could have traveled around the world and only have fatigue to show. Real joy is much simpler, much closer. It is close as your neighbor. Joy is found where you least expect it.

Joy is found in doing the simplest act of love. Joy is to feed a hungry child, to visit the old and abandoned or to comfort the sick. The most joyful people I know are those who have chosen to dedicate their lives to the forgotten and powerless. Their lives do not revolve in satisfying themselves but in bringing joy to those they serve. And amidst all the poverty and suffering they deal with everyday, they have found joy - it is a joy that the world cannot give. Joy is found where you least expect it.

Joy is found not when you “take them all” but when you “give them all”.  The more you grab joy for yourself, the more you lose it, the more you give it away, the more it comes to you.

The paradox of personal happiness is that it can only happen when you forget yourself in love. It is in loving Jesus first, Others second and Yourself last, that you will find joy. There is no joy outside of love. And real love is always joyful. God (who is Love) created us for love. Love is the air we breathe. And love is not selfish.

If you want to find personal happiness, then don’t make it personal. Be a person for all, then, true happiness, real joy will happen behind your back.

Find joy in love and love with joy. Find joy in Jesus and in yourself, only then can you joyfully bloom.