Joy Comes With the Morning by Joylene M Bailey

 

I was only a little late for our pre-service choir rehearsal that morning, but our director was already finishing his short devotional as I rushed through the green room to get to the choir loft. As I walked through the stage door onto the platform, Blaine concluded his final scripture reading:

Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. - Ps. 30:5 

All eyes turned to me, and I took my bow amid laughter and chuckles.

Moments of perfect timing, like that one, don't happen very often in anyone's life, but when they do, the shared delight carries on with each retelling, like the ripple effect of a pebble dropped in a pool.

Joy is the serious business of heaven.

- C.S. Lewis -

I suppose that because Joy is part of my name (my full first name is Joylene - pronounced Joy-lynn), I'm consciously and unconsciously on the lookout for joy.

It's why I keep the window open in my study, so I can hear the birds chortling as they carry out their own ordinary day. 

It's why I have that special drinking glass that shimmers blue in some lights and purple in others. Even a glass of water tastes better when taken from that cup.

It's why I buy paper napkins in all different colours and patterns. I love napkins! They're perfect paper squares of glee.

Find ecstasy in life:

the mere sense of living is joy enough.

- Emily Dickinson -

Life can be full of grief and hardship, but I believe joy is there if you look for it. It's the looking for it, however, that I forget to do sometimes. I get stuck in keeping my eyes fixed on my feet and the rough road ahead instead of looking up and noticing there's more to life than concrete and cracks in the sidewalk.   

If you carry joy in your heart, 

you can heal any moment.

- Carlos Santana -

The various mugs and cushions around my house marked with the word joy are there to remind me to choose joy. Because it is a choice. A choice to raise my eyes from the crack in the sidewalk to the clarity of the sky; to put my trust in the Joy-Maker. After all, isn't joy actually looking for God at work - even in the tough times?

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,

that we may sing for joy

and be glad all our days.

- Psalm 90:14 -

Photo Credits: all photos from Pixabay

1. Jill Wellington

2. Larisa Koshkina

3. Jill Wellington

4. ThreeMilesPerHour

5. Rudy and Peter Skitterians

Joy lives in Edmonton with the Cowboy and soon-to-be-married Babe. She writes about her name here on her blog, Scraps of Joy.