“Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing.  For to miss the joy is to miss all.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“The process of finding happiness within one’s own self may be difficult and slow, but it cannot be found anywhere else.” – Swami Parthasarathy

“Joy is a natural phenomenon.  Misery is your creation.” – Sadhgura

“In your presence is fullness of joy….” – Psalm 16:11 NKJV

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” – Jesus speaking in John 14:27 NLT

What stole your joy today?  What happened or is happening now that robs you of any inner peace you may possess?

Was it your work load, the tantrum your child just threw, or a stack of bills that is higher than the stack of money in the checking account?

Is it something your spouse said, a friend who bailed out on you when you were counting on them the most, or a sickness that just lingers and won’t diminish?

Is it looking back at life and wondering what happened to all those goals and dreams you once had that now seem beyond reach?  Maybe it’s wanting to experience joy and laughter once again, but there is no one in your life to share it with anymore. Could it be a sadness that has taken over your thoughts for so long now that happiness and joy seem implausible – far too unlikely to ever be a part of your life again.

All of these things are like sneaky thieves – pouncing into our lives and taking our happiness, our peace, and any contentment we hold.  Funny how for some of us, the tiniest things can pilfer away our joy – little moments within the day or sporadic events that just seem to hit precisely at the worse time they could.  For others, the circumstance or situation was like the robbery of the century – a catastrophic burglary that took everything we ever possessed – every ounce of happiness and joy we had left within us.

All of us at one point, big or small, have had our joy stolen.  But consider this….

For something to be stolen from you, you had to possess it FIRST in order for it to be taken from you.  You can’t have your car stolen from you if you never had a car in the first place.

Joy is something already in your possession.  You don’t have to acquire it, earn it, or rob it from someone else in order for you to feel better about yourself.  As Sadhgura said above, it is a “natural phenomenon.”

Christ gave it to each of us as a gift.  “Peace of mind and heart” are congruent with joy, so in essence; He has given each of us the gift of joy.  All of us can take possession of it, nurture it, hold it close, and cherish the abundance of it we’ve been given.  As the Swami said in the quote above, it cannot be found anywhere else but inside of us. It isn’t found in what others say or do, in our perfect circumstances, or possessed by someone else who must act a certain way in order for us to be happy.  That gift of joy that Christ has given is within – peace within the HEART and MIND.

I love how he follows with “and the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.”  And how does the world give?  It gives conditionally, with strings attached, and with selfish intent.  It gives based on what it gets back.

The gift of peace of mind and heart (in essence “fullness of joy”) comes in the form of things like:

• Realizing how quickly and easily we are forgiven – giving us the power and the strength to quickly forgive what others say and do without much thought.
• Understanding that even the worst of circumstances will “work together for our good” – knowing deep inside that all things have purpose and meaning to us and our ultimate welfare….Always!
• Believing we are guided, given wisdom, and directed through this life – never left to our own devices or flawed reasoning.
• Holding on to the conviction that sickness is only temporary, that death is never the end but always the beginning, and that true riches are found within us (that peace of heart and mind) and not in anything temporary the world has to offer us with all its strings attached.
• Confidently certain that God is in control – not my circumstances, not the people who surround me, or anything I attempt to do on my own apart from Him.  ALL THINGS unfold, are revealed, and transpire within that over-arching sovereignty of a loving, gracious God.
• Realizing that grace is constantly flowing toward us and our circumstances – from a God who never leaves us or forsakes us.

If your joy has been stolen, you’ve allowed the thief (in all the forms we outlined earlier) to take it away from you.  Like leaving the car door or house unlocked, all you possessed inside is now gone.

But if you keep a presence of mind that is centered in God and all He is, then in that presence there is “fullness of joy”.  Nothing that happens here in this world can possibly embezzle your joy, hold it hostage, or sneak in and take it away from you.  It is a gift you’ve been given – a gift of peace of heart and mind 🙂

Nurture it daily by contemplating the higher ways and deeper purposes of why you are here in the first place – never allowing the petty thieves of this world to steal it away from you.

Joy never happens to you overtly – it resides covertly inside of you.  That is where you will find it – centered within the gift we have all been given by our loving God 🙂

I pray that you realize this more and more each day, because just like Robert Louise Stevenson so eloquently said….”to miss the joy is to miss it all!”

God bless you all!