When Opening to Joy Isn’t So Easy…
December’s congregational theme is a bold and boisterous one: Opening to Joy!
But what if you’re not feeling joyful right now? Maybe you’re grieving the loss of a loved one. Maybe you’re feeling down, lonely, worn out, even despairing. Maybe the thought of holiday festivities makes you want to pull the covers over your head and just stay hunkered down until January.
If that’s you, please know that you are not alone. However you’re doing, however you’re feeling, whether sad or joyful, or both, or somewhere in the middle, you don’t have to be any way but how you actually are. Opening to joy doesn’t mean manufacturing false cheer and fake smiles. It’s just holding an open heart for whatever is happening, right now.
Tracey Thorn’s song “Joy” says it so well:
When someone very dear
Calls you with the words “everything’s all clear”
That’s what you want to hear
But you know it might be different in the New Year
That’s why, that’s why we hang the lights so high
Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy,
You loved it as a kid, and now you need it more than you ever did
It’s because of the dark; we see the beauty in the spark
That’s why, that’s why the carols make you cry
Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy
(You can listen to the whole song here.)
My prayer for you this holiday season is that you will love yourself, love others, and be loved, however you are. And that joy will find you in ways both small and great, mixed in with everything else. No need to go chasing after it—just keep an open heart and know that you are not alone, here in this hard and confusing and beautiful world.
In faith and with love,
Rev. Laura