Joy seems to be a word that gets tossed around very lightly as of late. Does your shirt bring you joy? What about your books?
Homeschooling; does that bring you joy?? Wait, don't answer that one!
I think we need to be careful that before we ask ourselves this question, we have to have a good understanding about what joy means.
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Joy vs Happiness
Don't confuse Joy with happiness. Joy doesn't mean we're skipping around all day, whistling Dixie. That might be more akin to happiness. I think we can ask ourselves more accurately, does my shirt or my book make me happy? If not, get rid of it. Does homeschooling make me happy? If not, don't throw it out, necessarily. Instead, look for ways to change things up so that it does.
From an article written by Peter Kreeft, he states the following about joy:
"Pleasure is in the body. Happiness is in the mind and feelings. Joy is deep in the heart, the spirit, the center of the self. The way to pleasure is power and prudence. The way to happiness is moral goodness. The way to joy is sanctity, loving God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself."
I was reading one of my favorite devotionals, "In Conversation with God", and there appeared this excerpt: " ...(joy) springs from our effort to put aside personal worries and enter into a friendship with God. Joy is essential to the apostolate. Who will be attracted by a sad and negative critic or a gloomy complainer?...Christian joy has a solid foundation in the reality of divine filiation. This is the recognition that one is a son or daughter of God at all times."
During the Hard Times
It is really hard during those times where one bad thing after another happens and you can't seem to "let go and let God". That is when it is hard to even feel the joy, let alone project it to others. So often during those times I feel as if God is above me, looking down to see how I am doing with the most current "test" He is putting me through, instead of realizing that He is right besides me, walking through the trial with me. There is an extreme difference in those two view points; enough of a difference to make it hard to maintain that sense of joy if you have the wrong perspective.
No matter what is happening in our lives, we have two choices - to become a sad, negative, gloomy complainer, or to realize that God is in control and hang on to that peace in our souls. As Blessed Jose Marie Escriva says, "The first step towards bringing others to the ways of Christ is for them to see you happy and serene, sure in your advance towards God."
Don't Be a Negative Nellie
If you have joy in your soul, then you will project it to others through your peace and happiness. It's so true. Who wants to be around gloomy people or negative Nellies who do nothing but complain? Who wants to have a mom for a teacher who is in a constant state of discontent? I know my kids don't.
When we understand what it truly is, that it is deep in our souls in good times and in bad, we will be able to weather the storms of the day, the week, the month, and keep that peace that we all long for.
If you don't have joy in your soul, the best way to get it is to deepen your relationship with God. Pray, read, talk with Him in Adoration, establish a firm foundation of faith with Him and you will find that JOY will take root in your soul.