Have you ever known someone who just exudes joy out of every part of their being? They bubble over with it, and generally it spills over onto those around them. JOY is contagious; you can’t help catching it when you’re exposed to it. Now, I don’t know about you, but this is a kind of virus that I want to contract!

I love joy. I have a friend whose name is “Joy” and it fits her perfectly, I sent her a text the other day with the greeting, “Morning Joy!” I told her, “I love saying that! What a great reminder of ‘joy’ you are!” 

The thing is, I not only want to catch joy from others, but I definitely want to be a carrier of it. I realize that in these weary and trying days of life in the midst of a pandemic, too often I carry the virus of grumbling and complaining to those around me instead of saturating them with joy. 

I respond to these less than ideal circumstances surrounding me with deep sighs, a short temper caused by impatience, biting words, a nagging insistence to do things my way, unreasonable expectations, a sense of overwhelm, and just plain old fear.  Joy becomes absent from my life and I drain it from those in my presence. Without joy infused into my days I feel like nothing more than a wasteland, desolate and in ruins. 

Can you relate this Christmas? Have you felt  like me, and like the Prophet Jeremiah when he wrote the book of Lamentations in the Old Testament: “My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is.” (Lamentations 3:17 HCSB), “Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to morning.” (Lamentations 5:15 HCSB).  And the words of the Prophet Isaiah seem so appropriate now as we face a global pandemic: “All joy grows dark; earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.” (Isaiah 24:11 HCSB).  

Our lives look different this Christmas than they have in the past. I remember a year ago when we didn’t question whether or not we would gather and celebrate with family, we didn’t hesitate to host or attend Holiday events, school and church plays were a given, shopping in our small town and getting to share smiles and hugs was the norm, not masks and small waves from a distance. I fight the growing darkness of discontent, uncertainty and worry. I know that I’m not alone in this.

How do we fight despair and experience a return to joy during times of struggle?  

Well first of all, we have to realize that there is a difference between “Happiness” and “Joy”.  Happiness is that feeling that comes over you when you know that life is good and all is well; it’s completely situational and dependent on what is going on around you at the time.  Happiness is fickle.  Joy and happiness are often interchangeable, you can be happy and experience great joy.  Joy, however, can be experienced in the absence of happiness. It has a deeper meaning than mere happiness; it expresses God’s goodness, it’s a deep sense of well-being even while outside circumstances are anything but good. Joy is not fickle, it doesn’t shift and sway with the winds of trouble.  Genuine joy can be experienced even in the midst of poverty, disease, pain and loss.  

Joy is given to us by the Spirit of God, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22 NKJV). We don’t need to dig deep to produce our own sense of joy like we do to find happiness. We don’t have to pursue joy; it’s a gift given to us by a Father who wants to bless us with good things. Joy is ours for the taking, we just need to receive it.

Isaiah says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation,who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”…Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Israel.” (Isaiah 52:7,9 NKJV).  The part that really strikes me in these verses is when he tells the “waste places” of Jerusalem to break forth into joy and sing together.  This was written at a time when Jerusalem was lying waste and in ruins; and Isaiah was crying out to the inhabitants to break forth into song and to sing together; even those parts that were the most desolate were to come together and share in the joy that comes from knowing God’s comfort and the redemption of His people.  

We can know a deep and steadfast joy that has nothing to do with the situations surrounding us. We can find ourselves facing the bleakest, and darkest of circumstances and yet still experience joy because joy isn’t dependent on circumstances; joy is dependent on God’s comfort and redemption.  

And our joy is increased when we share the good news of God’s redemptive plan with others. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.”  I love that! Our very feet are considered beautiful to God when we use them to carry the gospel to others, when we share the true meaning of Christmas, glad tidings of good things, to those around us. We can proclaim His salvation during this time of celebrating Jesus’ birth, and rejoice in the truth that our God reigns!

When we take our eyes off of our troubles and focus instead on how God brings redemption and comfort, we are infused with His joy…and His joy is contagious. I don’t know about you, but I find myself at this third week of advent longing for joy, and desiring to infect everyone around me with it.

“Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:12 NKJV)