The classic Acronym
Jesus first
Others second
You last
J.O.Y.
But in all seriousness... what in the world is this madness that we call "Joy"
When someone says Joy
the first thing that comes to mind apart from the acronym from before would be
pure happiness. But does that mean we go around singing about how great our
lives are and how easy it is for use to have what we want?
Heck no!
Joy is… hard to
explain. It is nearly impossible to explain clearly for me.
I am a happy person. Ask
anyone I know and they will comment on my happiness. But is that because I am
purely happy with my life?
Again I throw
grenades shouting:
Heck no!
There is absolutely
nothing in my life that should make me happy. I have a great life, yes, but I do
not have the circumstances to make me JOYFUL to be alive. Rather, I have quite
a bit to make me fearful.
And yet, I would have
to say that I really do have joy.
I shall do my best to
explain what joy is using the old acronym from before.
It was something I learned
a very long time ago in church.
Jesus First
I will say this right
now, I have never read C.S. Lewis’ book Finding
Joy. But what I can say is that C.S. Lewis went through a lot of pain and
was a very strong atheist. In fact, his life was almost opposite of his counterpart
Freud, who was raised in a God-fearing home.
Again, beside the point.
But what I want to
get across is that when C.S. Lewis became a believer he made sure he put his
priorities in the right place.
Some of his books are
very deep and astounding. Screwtape
Letters has to be one of my favorite adult books done by him closely
followed by his Narnia series.
Seriously, someone
needs to beat me over the head the next time I get off track.
Anyway
Lewis’ literature
reflects the first step in finding joy!
Jesus went first. And,
as a matter of fact, many people chose to put God first in their lives even
though their lives could be labeled as less than happy.
Corrie Ten Boom comes
to mind. She went through hell, can I say hell? Yes, I will say hell. She went
through freaking HELL! And you know what? She was able to find joy because she
looked past her circumstances and she focused on the fact that she was put
there to serve Christ and do the work God had in store for her.
“But you don’t
understand,” you say with an exasperated look, “I am not in a concentration
camp or facing the death of everyone I hold dear!”
“Oh?” I say pulling
out a violin and plucking it absentmindedly, “and what is your case? Please
make it interesting or I will be inclined to deny it.”
“I am sad.” You clench
your skirts tightly trying to make your circumstance seem as terrifyingly
horrid as they seem to you in your own mind.
“We are in a very sad
state, yes,” I say as I place the violin on the ground and pull out the
newspaper. “Bombings, war, sickness, death, crying, there seems to be no end to
the terror this world has put itself in. What do you expect me to do about it? Hop
in my TARDIS and fly off to the Garden of Eden and punch Eve square in the jaw
for being such a fool in the face of a little temptation? Sorry, but that is a
fixed occurrence in history and cannot be altered.”
“I am not asking you
to change that! I just want the pain to go away!” You raise your voice as you
place your teacup angrily on the table.
“That is mahogany,” I
say as I put a cozy beneath the china, “and life is PAIN. Anyone who tells you
differently is trying to sell you something.”
You wave your hand at
me in dismissal as you turn to look toward the door. Perhaps an escape plan?
There is no denying
it. Our world is unfair to everyone. We all have some inner demons that just
want to kill us from the inside out.
But if you claim the
name of Christ, then you must know that there is definitely a chance to escape
this world.
But since we have no
chance of escaping anytime soon, how do we face it everyday?
Serve God.
No time in your day
to do so?
Busy trying to put
bread on the table?
Too tired after a
long day at work to try to wrap your head around some Ecclesiastical book of
the bible describing some aspect of your life that you would rather not change
for it remains a comfortable spot in which you can sit and gaze upon your
fallen little world?
Can’t pull yourself
out of bed a few minutes earlier than usual in order to prepare your only mind
and heart for a long day at the office or in the classroom?
Perhaps you have too
many electives and your friends are complaining about you not having enough
free time to do anything but school and work?
Stop.
Shut up.
Back up.
Sit down.
Grab that book.
No, not that one.
That’s right, the one
with only two words on it.
Open it up.
To where?
You don’t like to
read?
Lazy.
Stupid.
Selfish.
CHILD.
Shame on you!
You DO realize what all had to be done in
order to get this book to you, right?
J.K. Rowling didn’t
even skim the surface of how long and hard it took.
Moffat? Yeah, he
doesn’t even come close to the type of character development this little book
has.
That’s right.
You have the GREATEST
BOOK of all time in your hands and you won’t even think twice about reading it
because it is too hard.
Wait…
That’s beside the
point.
Sorry.
Read it. Just read
it. Spend time in the Word every day and then come up with some way that this
can make you better. Find something in every passage.
Read a Psalm a day.
Read through the
Gospel of John.
Vic Mignogna does a
smashing job at a read through that can be found on youtube. I highly recommend
it.
The fact of the
matter is that when you remind yourself to do things for God, like read the
Bible or help out in church, you find that you are more refreshed and ready for
anything this world can throw at you.
Trust me.
No, don’t trust me, I
can do nothing.
Trust God.
He made this silly
little world.
All YOU have to do is
put
Jesus First
Others Second
I will make this as
brief as I can.
Serve.
Have a servant’s
heart.
When you see someone
in need, help them.
Put someone else’s
needs in front of your own.
Olaf told us himself that
that is the meaning of love.
And when you show
your love to someone that has to
bring at least a little bit of joy, right?
Right.
You Last
Take care of
yourself. Don’t go overboard.
I used to think that
in order to be happy you just make sure everyone else is happy and then you
have it made.
It doesn’t work like
that.
It never has worked like that.
It is wonderful to be
able to make others happy.
But to go overboard
is to expend yourself.
I did that very thing
a while ago.
I agreed to do many
things with many people only because
it made them happy.
And you know what?
It sucked.
I was not happy at
all.
As a matter of fact, I
was pretty depressed.
I was expending all
of my energy on these few people and never even realized that I was not truly happy.
Okay, I knew I was
unhappy.
I cried a lot. And then
I felt like a burden to the people around me for having such meltdowns.
There is nothing
wrong with a little “Me time.”
Cry a little. Or a
lot.
Watch your favorite
TV show alone in a dark room.
Or in a well-lit room
if you want.
Finish that project
you were working on.
Just remember not to
put alone time above God or others.
It’s a fine line. But
with a little practice and actual desire for assistance, it is doable.
Don’t go it alone.
It really is dangerous to go alone.
Ask for help. Don’t
be afraid to tell your friends you want help finding joy.
Just remember to put:
Jesus First
Others second
You last
I hope you didn’t
mind my rabbit trails…
I’m not exactly a
theological philosopher of sorts.
I’m just me.
J
