Joy

At the moment, I'm still writing/editing some of my stories before posting them on this blog and unfortunately, I don't have them ready just yet. So I'll subject you to reading another short piece this week. I almost forgot about posting today (I'm on post-finals brain that forgets things and doesn't know how to spend free time). Joy is a topic that has been on my heart and mind for a little over a week, since hearing a speaker at the women's Christmas event at my church. After hearing the lady speak about joy, I realized that over this semester, I've searched for happiness instead of searching for joy, and as a result, I've struggled with mismanaging stress and depression. Her words hit me like a lightning bolt, and the ideas stirred around in my head for nine days. The result: this free verse attempt. 

If you feel so inclined, feel free to comment your thoughts or suggestions about how to improve this blog or the posts!

I know,

I’m guilty of it too:

Chasing happiness.

A fleeting thing, elusive, yet

We pursue it anyway.

Relentlessly hunting like

Hounds on a fox.

Desperate to lock our jaws

Or fists around it before

The trail goes cold, and

The moment passes.

Happiness, 

Sliest of creatures, wily and lying,

Tempting us to follow it

‘Round the bush before it

Disappears into its den.

Confused we determine to wait,

Thinking to snatch it as it leaves.

But what then?

Once caught, does the fox not die?

Once caught, does happiness, too,

Return to dust?

Fade to a brief and faintly glowing memory?

The world is bleak and cruel,

And all the white-tipped tails are fast asleep.

We strain for things we cannot touch

Believing all will right itself.

We smile through our tears

And say “I’m fine.”

But through our teeth we lie.

I don’t pretend to explain

Why a family lost their son and brother,

Why cancer stole a husband’s wife.

We suffer and languish

And chase the foxes, desperate to 

Catch them and restore what we lost.

That isn’t how happiness works.

Like the poet king once wrote, 

Happiness is vanity:

It is brief and fleeting, and emotion

Felt and lost in a single breath.

Our steps misguided,

We search for the wrong things.

Happiness is a fox,

A temporary emotion offering naught but

Brief-lived satisfaction or fulfillment.

We all chase it, but perhaps

We chase the wrong creature.

Perhaps something touchable, permanent

Rests within reach to

Comfort us in our pain

And to warm our hearts.

All the time spent chasing foxes 

Distracts us from the door where

Joy, dressed plainly without garnish or gleam

Waits patiently for us to notice,

To pause and face the object of our quest.

Happiness offers temporary glamour,

But joy is everlasting, humble,

Sent with a lowly Child

Without whom, joy is impossible and

We return to our vain hunt.

I, too, am guilty of chasing foxes,

Enjoying the hunt, 

The thrill of the chase,

But at the end of the day,

I return tired and empty, filled no more

Than yesterday.

So today I make the choice

To abandon the hunt for quarries vain.

Joy may not reveal the answers

For the empty table chair and

Why we must experience grief.

But it does comfort and offer hope

Eternal of a Heaven

Where all our questions will be answered;

Where all our tears will be dried;

Where all our sorrow will be but distant memories;

Where Christ’s joy satisfies our longings;

And where we are Home.

"May the Good Lord bless you as your dear ones gather round. May your laughter be hearty and your joy and love abound."

--An Irish Blessing--

Merry Christmas! And to those of you who celebrate another holiday, I wish you a very merry one!