Thursday, April 15, 2021

Joy in the Mist

 




The marine layer limited the morning sunshine to a dim, indistinct glow as we began the climb. The location we met to walk the previous weeks looked so different. Since mid-February my friend Doreen and I walked this trail increasing our strength and duration until we could reach the goal she set for her 60th birthday. But the day of her birthday hike it looked as if we were somewhere entirely different. We could see the trail in front of us and the plants along the trail; we couldn’t see our goal. The plants looked softer in the misty gray.


It was if no one existed except the hikers around us and the trail before us. Those coming down generously assured us sunshine was at the top to greet us. I enjoyed being cocooned in a visually smaller world. It was calming and less stimulating. Gradually there was a sense of light filtering through. All the time ascending, some looked for the sun while others enjoyed the misty view, but all had a common goal – to reach the top. When we emerged into the bright sunlight, below lay a thick, gray marine layer over the city like a down comforter.


We pressed on until we reached our destination. Weary worn we rested. We celebrated. We took photos. Soon the marine layer thinned and we saw a filtered view of the world below, as if looking through a veil. Oh, but Doreen wanted everyone to have a clear view – the view she delighted in just two weeks before when she and I first reached the top. I found a different kind of beauty looking through the veil.

As we descended, the heat of the sun pushed the marine layer back toward the ocean. The view opened up before us and all took joy in seeing everything below as clearly as we could from far above. We looked forward to the end; it would be a celebrated moment of accomplishment and an opportunity to eat a big breakfast.


The hard seasons of life – ones we know are temporary but with an unknown expiration date – often feel like days of preparing and making the final ascent of a celebrated climb on a gray covered day; for awhile it seems endless. These times lack the hushed quiet of a gray morning but are like the sun beating down on me. I gravitate toward a minimally stimulating schedule/life. I prefer being cocooned in a quiet, calm rhythm with the outside world softened behind a veil. When the gray comes in the form of hardship and blocks the view of my desired destination, now that’s a different story. Then I desperately want to be above it in the sunlight. But this is not the life Jesus called me to, a life where I design my days of joy. I need to live a life of joy both in gloom and in light. He tells us in His Word that the darkness doesn’t overcome the light. This is hope. His light always penetrates and overcomes the darkness.


It is interesting and so like our Lord to invite me into joy the year of 2021. There are days when it has been a steep ascent to encounter joy and on other days it can be a gentle walk. Though the last three years have been challenging for our household, this year seems the most challenging for me to experience joy in the midst of it all. I understand why joy is the invitation; I must not lose joy no matter what. The verse my heart is set to navigate the year 2021 is Romans 12:12.


Be joyful in hope,

patient in affliction,

faithful in prayer.”


And then the Spirit added a P. S. from James 1:2.


Count it all joy . . .”


The truth of His Word challenges me to believe the joy I experienced in the midst of a marine layer on that hike can be found in the gray days of living love in the hard places. The long view can’t be seen; it’s as if the trail disappears in the gloom and the end is uncertain. I love the phrase: “Be joyful in hope . . .” What we hope for is unseen, but oh so certain.


Jerry Bridges writes these truths about joy in The Fruitful Life; I am convicted and inspired. “The fact is, only Christians have a reason to be joyful, but it is also a fact that every Christian should be joyful. True Christian joy is both a privilege and a duty. . . . we are not to sit around waiting for our circumstances to make us joyful; but we are commanded to be joyful always (1 Thessalonians 5:16). . . . joy is not an option available to those whose temperament is conducive to it. God intends that every one of His children exhibit the fruit of joy. Just being joyful is not enough, however; we should be continually growing in joy.” Joy, a distinctive quality of being a disciple of Jesus, is expected of me.

 

It is by the power of the Holy Spirit I grow in joy regardless of circumstances; it is not something I can talk myself into. Joy comes from a place of surrender and trust. Though we could not see the flag that marked our goal at the beginning of the upward hike, we knew it was there; we had been there before. The climb may be difficult and the view closed off in gray, we can, and did, take joy in the journey. I desire to look at my current life through joy in the same way I delighted in the soft, limited view of the first half of my friend’s birthday hike.


How are you experiencing joy in your ordinary life? How are you finding joy in hardship? How are you experiencing God these days, whether in or out of hardship? What is God’s invitation to you in 2021 for spiritual growth?







2 comments:

  1. I am trying to enter into worship even in the daily chores. Though my mind often wanders, I bring my thoughts back to the presence of Christ. Part of me feels bad that I don't do this enough but the other part of me rejoices when I do.

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