Joy

The first job I ever had was sacking groceries at Randall's. The thing I will always remember about my first day of work is how much my face hurt from smiling so much. I guess it was a good thing though because I remember doing pretty well with tips when I had that job. But, I hated that job more than was probably reasonable, and after about two months I quit.

Today I remembered how much it hurts to smile sometimes. I started reading a book called Spiritual Arts: Mastering the Disciplines for a Rich Spiritual Life. It's by Jill Briscoe, who I know next to nothing about, but I've been interested in learning more about spiritual disciplines. I also like that the discussion of spiritual arts is drawn from Philippians--a short book that contains so much, and the author does a really neat job of explaining that the work we do to grow spiritually can be seen as an art. She writes:

"There is as much spiritual discipline needed on my part as the self-discipline needed for the rest of the arts. Just as I need to study the art of music and practice it, so must I study the art of humility and practice it" (9).

So, spirituality is not something that happens to us; it's something we must work at. We must work to better understand the purpose of these arts in our lives and to understand God's purpose for us.

I've only made it through the first of the spiritual arts--ministry. Personally, I think she started with the toughest art to practice! What seems so difficult is just what I talked about earlier--how hard it is to smile sometimes. But this is Paul's message to the Philippians, that ministry should be an act of joy. In fact, the words "joy" or "rejoice" appear in all four chapters of the book of Philippians. There is to be joy in prayer. Joy in all that we do. And, we have to keep reminding ourselves that this is a letter written by a man in jail, a man who may well lose his life.

But, even though I'm not in jail, it is hard to smile sometimes. Sometimes it's hard to feel happy. But, maybe that's the mistake. Maybe, like the author argues, happiness is something changeable, while joy is a constant. Pehaps it's just a bit off to search for happiness when it's joy that brings true, lasting fulfillment. Maybe we can have joy even when it seems like happiness is far away.

I'll keep reading and let you know! And, if you haven't already, I highly suggest reading Philippians!