Joy
Do you know someone who radiates joy? Now, I’m not necessarily talking about the person that goes skipping down the street whistling to themselves, making you want to ask “Hey, what have you been smoking?” No, I’m referring to that special person who exudes a quiet inner peace, regardless of the circumstances. The person who quietly walks into a room, and may not be the first one you notice, but the one you eventually realize has the very thing you have been looking so hard to find. A quality that attracts others, not from flamboyance or authority or knowledge, but from a simple presence…a sense that feels like they’ve got it figured out. They know the answer to the question that you haven’t been able to clearly ask of yourself yet. This joy is not the same thing as happiness or elation. Happiness can come and go with the vissicitudes of life, while joy has a permanence beyond circumstance. Happiness will likely be lost with a tragedy or period of suffering, but joy persists despite, and sometimes even because of, these hardships.
Do you know anyone like this? I’ve met a few such people in my life…and read about many others. One is a friend from medical residency training. During those challenging years when you know alot but not enough, and have seen a great deal but never something quite like this, and when you are in charge but wish you weren’t. This friend would be there at a moment’s notice to help, despite having a busy schedule and immense responsibilities himself. But it wasn’t really the willingness to help that most impacted me (of course, my patients and I are forever indebted). Rather, it was the peace, the calm serenity, the compassion…the joy that he brought. The willingness to help was a natural extension of that joy. How could he not help, for it was who he was.
Another example was a research mentor of mine. A mind as brilliant as they come. Accomplished and respected among the highest of scientific echelons. Again, there was unique attractiveness to this man’s demeanor. In the fast-paced, often cutthroat world of biomedical discovery, he lived outside of the maelstrom. In a world where results are king, he genuinely cared more about the person he knew you could become, rather than the research paper that you could publish for his lab. He was never rushed, and always had time for a question or concern, professional or personal. His impact on my life has been hard to quantify, but looking back, his greatest role as a mentor was to model this quality of joy.
Why is this joy so attractive? I think because it radiates a kind of holiness. It reflects the way that we are created to be. Look at Mother Theresa, or Pope John Paul II, or the Dalai Lama, or St. Francis of Assisi. Their presence was magnetic, and people who met them describe being made to feel as if they were the only person in the whole world at that moment. These holy people had challenging lives, but took everything in stride with a comfort of faith, knowing that their lives were deeper than their circumstances. Joy is described everywhere throughout the Old and New Testaments. Thirty two of the 150 Psalms speak of joy. Jesus tells his disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11).” Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and what we will hopefully attain in eternity.
If joy is so attractive, why is it so very hard for us to find for ourselves? Perhaps we resist the foundation on which it is built. Perhaps by trying in vain to control life’s circumstances, we tread water trying to keep our heads above the rolling waves, not realizing that there is a boat right next to us if only we would climb into it. Perhaps we need to trust and have faith in something greater than ourselves. Wouldn’t you like to be that joyful person? That person who others look towards and say, “I wonder what he’s got. How can I get some of that?” Let’s keep searching for joy together…once we find it, our lives and the lives of those around us will never be the same.
