Finding Joy in Chaos
As we approach the end of this most unique year, I have found myself asking one question over and over again: How do I find joy in the midst of all of this? Every day in the news, I read tragic stories of loved ones who have been lost to the disease, or I read about the unrest that exists in different segments of the country. I get on Twitter or Facebook and read hatred coming from the fingertips of people I know, pontificating about why their view is superior and the other side is evil. It does seem as though 2020 has been a special kind of horrific experience for many, including those within the walls of the church. How do we find joy when it seems as though the world around us is completely joyless? I believe the answer is twofold: First, we must remind ourselves constantly of the blessings we do have. They could be small. Each of you receiving this letter has a roof over your head, food on your table, oxygen running through your lungs, and I am guessing, at least 4-5 people who deeply care about you. I don’t know what more we could ask for than that. Second, we must remember that as Christians our hope does not rest in the world righting itself. Our hope doesn’t rest on a vaccine. Our hope doesn’t rest on politics, finances, football teams, or anything else that we spend the majority of our time focused on. No, our hope rests in a manger in a small town in southern Israel. Our hope rests in knowing that God incarnate came to live with us. God incarnate came to show us how to love. God incarnate came to die and be resurrected for us.
How do we find joy in the midst of all of this? We find joy from knowing that even if the entire world falls apart around us, that Jesus wrote his name on our hearts before we knew any better. We find joy in that love. We find peace in that love. We find hope in that love.
– Scott
“God can’t give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.”
– C.S. Lewis