Unshackle Moments ~ December 14 ~ Unspeakable Joy

Joy, unspeakable joy

And overflowing where no tongue can tell

Joy, unspeakable joy

Rises in my soul, never lets me go

- Chris Tomlin

How do you write about a joy that you can't speak about? Written or spoken, words are words, and for something to be indescribable with the tongue it is equally elusive of definition and description with a pen or keyboard. Joy is the Advent theme that I have the most trouble with in all honesty, because it's the one that I count on most, the one I feel the ghosts of the most, and the one that I can't quite seem to catch when I need to. All too often, my circumstances rob me of my joy because I haven''t gotten down the ability to tap into the joy of the Lord with the consistency needed to guide my life.

I know that it's more than pleasure or happiness and that it isn't produced by, or defined by, our circumstances or emotions. In fact, it can have more effect on them they they can have on it. I have seen it. Well, I say I have seen it the way that I say that I've seen the wind. I've seen the effects of the wind.

I've seen the effects of the joy. I've seen the light remain in the eyes of a man dying of cancer. He had so much pain he could barely move, and yet there was a spark in his eye and a tone to his voice that could only be described as joy. I've seen it in the lives of others, such as my Ma Woody and my father. I've seen a true but lesser version in the lives of those who love each other well. I've even experienced this breeze of love that brings joy even in the midst of hardships. My wife has made this possible, but I still can't describe the breeze, much less the gale force winds of joy the love of God creates.

I have a hard time having faith in something that I can't even speak about or describe sometimes. And yet, while I don't feel the wind as often as I know I could, I do feel it from time to time. I know it's there. It's not a matter of seeking it out or proving it exists as much as it is a matter of learning to adjust my sails to catch it. Joy has come through the Son, ministered to us by the Spirit because of the great love of the Father. This Advent season and beyond let us ask God for the grace to adjust our sails so that we can catch the winds of His joy in every circumstance, during the roughest of storms and the calmest seas. We may never be able to describe that joy that gives us strength and doesn't depend on things feeling or being a certain way, our way, a comfortable way, but we can feel it.  And when we fill our sails with it, it can take us across any and every sea, and keep us safely moving to the shores of the kingdom of God.

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