My word of the year; Joy

If you followed my blog last year, then you may have read my blog post where I wrote that freedom was my word of the year for 2020.  For the year of 2021, I have decided that the very short, yet very important word of Joy would be my new word of the year.  I did some brief research and found that there are at least 16 Bible verses about joy in the Bible, so clearly this is a word that God and many other Christians care about very deeply.  One verse that I want to highlight this year is Nehemiah 8:10 that says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Having joy in the Lord is a great strength, and I want to continue to develop that strength over the year of 2021.   

For a vast majority of my life, I associated the word joy with happiness.  It is very easy to do, and I believe that a majority of the world does this as well. When we think of someone who is joyful, we often think of someone who is happy most of the time.  You may never see this person as sad or upset, etc.  Now while I do think there is some truth or connection between happiness and joy, I do not think that joy is merely just being happy.   Happiness easily for me comes and goes.  While I am very happy when things are going my way, there are times when things that aren’t going my way and I, of course, I get disappointed, sad, or even angry.  Those emotions are healthy and natural, but I know that joy is something that can be found amidst all those different emotions.  That even when we have a bit of sadness, anxiety, frustration, disappointment, even depression, there can be joy that will continue to see us throughout.  While continuing to still focus on the joy, we often can start to look through those other emotions.  

The world just celebrated Christmas and often throughout that season, there will be a phrase discussing how Jesus is coming to the earth to bring great joy.  We sing songs like, “Joy to the world.” Why is Christmas such a joyful holiday?  Because the idea is that Jesus is coming and eventually will die on the cross for our sins so that way we have an opportunity to live with him forever in eternity.  This joy is a celebration of God being on earth and being with his people again. That relationship that is developed through knowing the Lord, the love that he has for us, and the eventual promise of an everlasting life produces great joy. This again is not merely happiness, but joy, unending and continuous joy. 

I have written about this before, but I am still continuing to read the book, “Forgiving what you can’t forget,” by Lysa Terkeurst.  In this book and journal there is a quote that is great to think about when one is thinking of joy.  This quote says “He (God) promised the grief would turn into joy.  The grief would produce the joy.  The grief was a part of the journey, but it would not be the way that it would all end.” This put a lot of things into perspective.  The Lord does not necessarily promise to take away all grief from our lives here on earth.  No matter how much we would want that.  However, he does promise that he will use that grief and those problems that we have faced or are continuing to face for our great good and that eventually we would experience great joy.   Again, this is very different from happiness as it is something that is everlasting and something that does not just come and go with differing emotions.  

I have chosen this word because there has been a lot this past year that has made me at times question my joy.  Like many people, I was struggling at times through the Quarantine.  I was trying to tell myself to be more optimistic and to find the positives, but then the weeks moved on and on.  I still wasn’t with my students and I still wasn’t doing my job like normal.  I wasn’t getting the chance to talk to people, and I was starting to have more and more anxiety.  I did not feel the joy that I usually do.  Now I feel like a lot of people were there with me.  We all in some way, shape or form were impacted by this past year of 2020 and all of the things that came with it.  Because of this, I want to make sure that the grieving and anxiety over the present will continue to develop this promised joy in the future.  

The other reason that I have chosen the word joy is that if I am honest, there are times when I am a complainer. I am a planner. I love to make plans for the days, set goals, etc, which is one of the things that I love about myself.  However, I HATE when plans change.  I don’t like being asked to do things last minute. (unless I’m asked to go out to a movie, because I always want to go out to a movie!) So even if I agree to the last minute plans that I don’t want to do, you know that I am going to grumble to myself about it or to anyone who is close by.  (It’s hard to not have things go the way that we want them to, isn’t it.) Learning how to do all things without complaining is one of the things that I want to grow as a person, just as the verse says in Philippians 2:14, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.”  I want to continue to find joy even when it is through things that I don’t want to do or like.  

Some of the ways that I am going to learn more about joy this year is I am starting a joy journal where I will write something down that fills me with joy.  I will use this also as a way to reflect on how I am feeling in regard to joy.  Then I also just bought a devotional that I am planning on working through called, “Happy Today; A guided journal to genuine joy.” by Max Lucado.  I am very excited for this as a way to reflect and learn more about joy through a devotional as well as some questions.  I am really excited to grow in joy this year.  My challenge for all of you is if you have not thought of your word of the year (or a few) of 2021, that you would consider finding one word that you can personally grow and focus on.  What is something that you want to develop better or work through?  Please let me know if you do think of one! I would love some good ideas for the future years!!