Joy is a Steady Flowing River

When I was volunteering at a church, the children’s pastor did a series on the Fruit of the Spirit. As she wrote her own curriculum, she’s the first person I ever heard say, “Happiness is like a roller coaster. Joy is a steady flowing river.” I can still see Miss Kathryn’s hand motions as she taught the elementary kids.

When life happens to me, as it happens to everyone, one of the ways I measure how well I am following Jesus is by the amount of joy I’m experiencing. I’m not talking about happiness which comes and goes. I’m talking about the joy that is linked to the peace that goes beyond understanding (Philippians 4:7).

The joy doesn’t always rise to the surface in the middle of life’s chaos - the kids are just being kids requiring constant emotional regulation; the husband is broken and uses the wife as his emotional regulator, the bills are falling behind and people are depending on you for answers to life’s hard places. (Yup, been there done that, all at the same time. It was not healthy by any means.)

The thing is, when life is handing us one unpinned hand grenade after the next, how deeply are we connecting with Jesus? This is when we must rejoice in our sufferings. No, it doesn’t look the same as the persecution in the early church, or even the modern church, but it is a real struggle. It’s still equally important that we acknowledge how very hard it is and make the conscious choice to rejoice.

How? One step at a time. The joy will not necessarily reflect on our face immediately, but we take inventory of what’s happening with our thoughts, slow them down and with effort choose something to be thankful for. It’s been scientifically proven that thankfulness and depression cannot coexist. Thankfulness ultimately leads to joy. It can start with one thankful thought in a day. The next day, give yourself two reasons to be thankful. Continue to double what you’re thankful for every day. No guilt for regression, just choose to keep taking the next right step.

God knows and understands and when we do our part, He works healing and gives His joy. “Step by step He leads me and I will follow Him all of my days,” (Step by Step).