“Joy to the world” sings Clark Griswold as he prepares to flip the switch that will transform his home into a luminous display of Christmas joy for the entire neighborhood.
Only it doesn’t. Somewhere, there is a disconnect.
That’s how Christmas can be for many people. Christmas comes. We flip the joy switch, and it doesn’t turn on. We keep trying to turn it on, but the joy never lights up.
Christmas is an opportunity to reset and reconnect to our true source of joy. Christmas teaches us something about joy that is absolutely crucial. In order to live a life of joy, we have to have a source of joy that is not based on changeable circumstances.
The True Source of Joy
The birth of Christ is an event that causes a joy that transcends all circumstances. It is something beyond the reach of all the joy-killers in our lives. It is, as the angel said, “good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
How does the birth of Christ bring joy? It tells us that in spite of appearance, all things will turn out well. It promises us that we are ultimately secure and accepted. It confirms that our labor is not in vain. It assures us that we will be filled with good things.
When we try to base our joy on pleasures, people, events, or other circumstances, we are setting up ourselves for a joy disconnect. Lasting joy only comes when we connect our joy on that which transcends all those things.
Why Pursue Joy
And why does that matter? Fist, it’s just obviously better to live as a person of joy than a person of despair, frustration, and anxiety.
Second, joy gives us the internal margin to serve. That’s what joy does. When anxiety is high, we only see ourselves and our problems. When it is low, we have the capacity to think and see beyond ourselves.
Christmas often means grief for people who remember people they have lost. Does Christmas joy mean that we cannot mourn losses? No. We can mourn. We can be, as the Apostle Paul said, “sorrowing yet rejoicing.” The key thing is that at the deepest level of our hearts, we have to hold on to that which cannot change as the foundation of joy. That is the only way we can truly be people of joy.
And what about the busy-ness of the Christmas season? We think we will lose by working on joy. But any investment in developing joy will pay large dividends elsewhere. It’s an investment that can’t fail (for a little more advice on bringing joy into our daily life, read my post here).
This is the lesson of Christmas. A joy is available beyond our circumstances, a joy that comes from the transcendent. Christmas is an opportunity to reset and find joy in that which transcends the world and gives us real assurance of blessing and life.
Merry Christmas to all of you! Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope it will point you to a source of joy that the world cannot give and that it cannot take away.