27th April 25
Joy in the Pursuit
Today at church three people spoke. One titled her talk ‘The Pursuit’ and spoke about how quickly we can find joy, but how difficult it is to keep it.
I remembered a time when I felt upset, annoyed, and even angry. Anger is an emotion I don’t usually experience. It was a particularly hard season for us. I played worship music, and something incredible happened – my anger turned into joy. I can’t fully explain it, but it was real and it happened in an instant.
Our circumstances hadn’t changed, everything still looked hopeless, but inside I found joy and that feeling lasted for a week. I’ve learned there’s a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness depends on circumstances but joy comes from within, and I believe God can give it.
Another speaker gave an illustration. He asked someone to put on a t-shirt, explaining that over time it would get stained, torn, and dirty, mucking it up in the process. Then he gave them a fresh clean t-shirt to put on over the old one, but warned that even this one would eventually get dirty too.
He compared it to life – our past leaves marks, stains, and sometimes brokenness that we can’t erase. But we don’t have to live in the past. We can have a future where we can walk clean and whole again.
Everyday is a new opportunity to choose joy, to wear that fresh ‘t-shirt’ of hope, of grace, of mercy, and of love. Joy isn’t about having a perfect life or forgetting the past. It’s about knowing that even in the middle of the mess we are made new.
Today reminded me that true joy isn’t about circumstances changing. It’s about me changing. The pursuit of joy? It’s not a race to win – it’s a daily journey we choose no matter the circumstances.
