When I was younger, Winnie-The-Pooh made a huge impact on me. I had a stuffed Pooh Bear that I carried around through my toddler to preschool years, and though he definitely shows signs of aging and wear, I still have him. He's in in my living room sitting on a cabinet next to an Ansel Adams coffee table book. I can look at that silly old bear and take a nostalgia roller coaster. Me and that bear were the start of a wild, and often frightening but ultimately good and worth it, ride.
The time period where I walked the world with a bear stuffed with fluff and a short while after I set him aside where the years of legend and myth, the years of joy. I don't remember them. Sometimes when I look at that bear I can catch the hint of memory like occasionally smelling the ghosts of my grandmother's perfume when I open the drawer of the dresser I inherited. I get a little jolt fof joy from the past, a skeleton of a memory of a time before, a time when I had joy.
This state of joyfulness that I don't really remember well but have stories about is a blessed state that my father prays and believes I will one day return to. It sounds wonderful, but a bit like a mythical land to my war torn soul. Still, there is so much Biblical basis for a joy in the midst of sorrow, a joy that is a source of strength that I find myself on a search for this land of legend.
Back to Winnie-The-Pooh. Winnie-The-Pooh And Tigger Too was my favorite Disney tale as a child. I loved Tigger. I acted like in so much at times that "Tigger" became a nickname I was known by for years. But the truth is that I, and I suspect many others, have an easier time relating to Eeyore. Under every good things is a veil of sadness. Disappointment leads to an overwhelming sense of doom and gloom. If things go wrong, of course they did. How could we expect anything else. It's always bad, isn't it? Well, no. Here's something wonderful. What do you think Eeyore? I'm pretty sure it won't last, it will break, the shine will fade. Yes, it's easy to identify with Eeyore, even as we long to feel like Tigger.
But Tigger had his own issues. Tigger made a mess of everything. Tigger's exuberance and hedonism and live for the fun and pleasure of the moment caused him and his friends so many problems. And that is the story of my life when it comes to living the bouncy, flouncy, trouncy, pouncey, fun, fun, fun lifestyle. It seemed like a fun and good idea at the time is a concept that usually means things went wrong and people got hurt. Tigger had happiness, but he didn't have joy, That's why he constantly chased the next bit of excitement, the latest distraction. He leapt without thinking because to think would force him to acknowledge that chasing joy is futile and that his antics were meaningless. At least Eeyore never caused others the hassles and frustrations that Tigger did. Maybe Eeyore was the better inspiration after all.
But Eeyore soaked in misery like a flower soaks in the sun. It may be easy to identify with, but it's no way to live. Tigger's constant pursuit of pleasure and happiness made a mess of things, and let's face it, people who are always chipper are annoying and feel fake. The Tiggers of the world are far less realistic than the Eeyores. The problem lies in the goal.
Through the eyes of the Winnnie-The-Pooh philosophy of life there are so few choices, and all fall short of ideal. We can go through life, refusing to think deeply or to see things as they are, to fill our head with stuffing rather than wisdom and truth. Silly old bear. We can make ourselves and others crazy trying to control everything and force order and perfection onto a broken and chaotic world like Rabbit. We can chase happiness and consequences be cursed like Tigger, finding pleasure before the inevitable pain, which we then try to escape through more pleasure. We can just resign ourselves to sadness and misery, living a life of gloom a la Eeyore. We can hide from the world and it's problems, living in constant fear of everything, because the world and its problems are so big. No thank you, Piglet. We can lose ourselves in taking care of family, like Kanga, refuse to grow up with Roo or become obsessed with work like Gopher. We can build ourselves up with false wisdom, relying on our mind to make sense of everything even as we spout nonsense like Owl.
But I dare say that none of these approaches to life lead to joy. There is a difference between happiness and joy. Being happy is fully dependent on circumstance. When the problems increase, happiness decreases. Fewer problems, more happiness. It's not a complicated ratio. But just staying in the situation, accepting the misery, chasing distraction and escape, or focusing on figuring things out, family and friends or work or controlling the uncontrollable are not the solution. Joy is not effected by circumstance and can even be greater during times of struggle and trouble. Joy comes from finding rest in the presence of God.
Joy is more about remaining in the presence of Jesus than in avoiding troubles and difficulties. It's less about things being right and more about being right with Him. Understanding that we are valued and loved by God, regardless of the situations we face can bring an inner contentment in the midst of need and distress. Happiness is a state-of-mind and emotion that comes and goes, while joy is a condition of the heart that can be constant. Happiness is dependent and conditional, while joy is independent of situation and the material and unconditional. Because happiness is based on the temporal and how this world and life are affecting us. So is misery for that matter. But joy is based on the eternal and what we have that can never be taken away, lost, broken or destroyed. Joy is found in Jesus. It can exist in the midst of sorrow, accepting the sorrow of the moment but remembering the truth of God's love and the restoration to come. It doesn't have to cover or disguise sorrow, but can ease it while co-existing.
A person who truly has joy is not annoyingly chipper or fake. If the joy of the Lord is the strength and the fruit of spiritual health, then Jesus by default had great joy. He drew crowds, because joy is a magnet. But He was also a man of great sorrow acquainted with grief. His heart broke with compassion and empathy. It was joy that got Him through the most agonizing time of His existence, the pain and rejection He endured on the cross. It gave Him an inner strength that couldn't be defeated and made Him someone a pleasure to be around.
Truthfully, I believe in this joy, but it remains a mystery to me. I do believe that the key is in forsaking the pursuit of pleasure and happiness and accepting rather than trying to escape sadness, sorrow and hard times. The solution to the joy question is Jesus. I do believe that it is only in pursuit of His presence can we find this joy and free ourselves from the doom and gloom as well as the messy mistakes of distraction. Let us pursue Him together and put Him to the test. Jesus never fails.
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