Words to Digest: Joy

Joy

/joi/

noun

A state of happiness or felicity.

A source or cause of delight.

What brings you happiness or joy? What is the source of delight? Everyone has different reasons.

I remember the film “Shadowlands” about the relationship and marriage of C.S. Lewis, Oxford Don and legendary atheist turned Christian and author Joy Davidson, a Communist Jewish poet who, once an atheist then became a Christian. Lewis, who learned to love unconditionally through his brief time with Davidson, wrote a book entitled, “Surprised by Joy” in 1956 that was about his life and the influences that guided him to joy, beginning with the death of his mother. He writes of how he came to joy by the least likely circumstances and influences to find that his journey was surprisingly guided by God whom he stated:

“In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. . . . God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.

So perhaps in considering what brings us joy we should rather consider who brings us joy and the ability to know what joy actually is…a cause for delight.

Surprised By Joy — Impatient As The Wind

William Wordsworth

Surprised by joy — impatient as the Wind

I turned to share the transport — Oh! with whom

But Thee, deep buried in the silent tomb,

That spot which no vicissitude can find?

Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind —

But how could I forget thee? Through what power,

Even for the least division of an hour,

Have I been so beguiled as to be blind

To my most grievous loss? — That thought’s return

Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,

Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,

Knowing my heart’s best treasure was no more;

That neither present time, nor years unborn

Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.