Re-imagining Joy: The Origin Story

Many years ago, in the midst of one of the darkest moments I have experienced, a wise and dear man once told me that God does not mean for God’s people – any people, and in that particular moment, me – to suffer.  His statement was simple, straightforward, and completely revolutionary. 

God does not mean for us to suffer.

It meant that God was not “testing” me to see how I would handle pain and sorrow to see if I might, perhaps, merit some form of relief or reward.   It meant that God does not cause cancer, or take children to heaven, or require us to stay with abusive partners.  God does not send us “trials of faith,” or test our ability to guess the Divine plan for our lives.  It meant that old punitive ideas about God could be released, and there might possibly be something better to take their place.

God does not mean for us to suffer. I lived off that statement for over a decade. 

Then, after an embarrassingly long time, I finally asked the obvious corollary, “If we are not meant to suffer, what does God truly intend for human beings?  What is the Divine Intention for our lives?”  Sitting in quiet meditation, I let the responses arise on their own: God intends us to be obedient; to serve; to live in relationship with God’s self…. None of these felt authentic - they were relics of the old way of understanding God’s will.  So I waited, and asked, and waited some more.  And it didn’t take all that long for the deeper, more unexpected response to whisper,  “Joy.”  God intends for us to know Joy.  We are here to experience joy, to extend joy to others, to participate in God’s joy, to become joy incarnate.  We are meant for Joy.

As my students say, Mind Blown!  But, Heart Opened.  I knew in that moment, this was it – the authentic message, the essential task, the deepest secret of what God has in mind for all of us.  True, I hadn’t thought much about joy and its place in life so far, and yes, lots of people suffer far worse experiences and challenges than I ever had, but this was the key, the linch-pin, to understanding God’s intention for creation.

We are meant for Joy. Just that. Human life is intended to be an experience of Joy.  How simple.  How lovely!  And like most simple answers, it raises its own raft of new questions: How do we know what joy looks like?  Is it different from happiness? If so, how? Do we find it, create it, craft it, pursue it? Or do we just get out of God’s way and trust that somehow it will happen? 

I’ve been playing with those questions for a while now, and will share more of my thoughts in future posts on this subject. And I’d love to hear how joy shows up in your life as well. Please leave your thoughts in the comment space below.