Day Twenty | March 16 Joy

When the poets once wrote, “It is a happy talent to know how to play,” I think they knew that the day would inevitably come when all of us would be faced with a monumental decision, a crucial junction – in time – that would chart how we would live out the remaining days that God gives us. I think they knew that we would find ourselves on that well-worn and deeply-rutted path that winds its way to a fork: in one direction is fear and, in the other, joy.

Now, it may seem that the word joy is misplaced in the melancholy days of Lent. It may not seem

70 WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

entirely correct for us to celebrate it, to ponder it, to mention it during this journey toward the crucifixion - during this season when even the Hallelujahs are snatched from our liturgy. But it is only that joy that has the power to move us onward to our next step, for Nehemiah tells us that it is the joy of the Lord that is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

It is an unfortunate rarity in the Church, these days, for us to be exhorted to joy. It is a tragic oversight that we have forgotten the power of play. You see, there is something wonderful that happens when we open our souls to the possibility of joy: we find new hope, new love, new meaning. The pursuit of recreation is, in a very real sense, a pursuit of re-creation … and God, our Provider, is still in the “business” of creating!

Whether from the battle scars of living or from the glut of our everyday responsibilities, we are tempted to lose that childlike (not childish) sense of wonder. We are tempted to lose that sense of grandeur, that sense of creativity and imagination that stems from the image of God, in which we are created. Somewhere, as the years take their toll like the waves eroding the shoreline, we give in to the seductive temptation of age and responsibility … and we forget how to play; we forget how to have fun – good, wholesome fun.

Maybe it is that we’ve confused the two. Maybe we’ve always considered growing up and growing old to be synonymous, but nothing could be farther from the truth. As it happens, it is a good and right thing that each of us should grow up, that each of us should “put away childish things,” that each of us should mature in our faith, our reasoning, our emotions. It is a necessary step in everyone’s life that we should grow up. But what about this business of growing old?

Though it is true that age breeds wisdom, it seems proper enough to say that the greatest wisdom is this: to enjoy each day, to be fully present in each moment that God provides. This beckons us not to the dusty garments of old age but back to that joy of our childhood. It begs that we, once again, experience the profound wonder and curiosity that we once knew – all gifts from our gracious Provider’s nail-scarred, out-stretching hands.