Joy
Today’s Daily Word is “Joy.”
The Daily Word describes how children “live in a world of imagination, wonder, and joy” (Daily Word, 4/30/2015) and suggests that we should choose to live “like a carefree child.” But how are we going to do that? If we are distracted by judgments, worries, and concerns, how are we supposed to gently return to the “joy of the present moment” if we fail to see that joy to be available to us?
Like with many learnings around spiritual Principles and Practices, as adults we must relearn some of which we intimately and intuitively knew as a child. Most of us tend to focus on gathering intellectual knowledge, because we have been trained all our lives that such knowledge is important. We may even have concluded that our intellectual knowledge is superior to experience. Unfortunately, or luckily, spiritual Principles cannot be learned effectively just by using our intellect. We must practice and we must gain experience in order to truly benefit from them. However, some simple Truths may help to start us on our journey:
We have never lost the ability to tap into Joy, no matter how old we are and how long it has been that we were children.
Joy is all around us and within us. It has the quality of a spiritual Principle, which resonates with the same qualities of God/Godessence, Spirit, or Christ. There is no place and experience in our entire physical reality where we would not be able to find Joy.
Whatever we may think we have lost, we may find again in an instance and without any prerequisites. Joy is a choice, as simple as that.
When we are invited to be like children, it does not mean that we need to go back into the past and try to recreate what has been so long ago. We must learn to truly surrender to our Divinity that is full of Joy already in order to experience that Power in all circumstances of our lives. Unity offers tools to use in order to practice what it means to be Divine: prayer, meditation, denials, and affirmations. In Unity, there are classes taught around all those tools. Those classes are powerful and very useful in showing the “how to” and encouraging the practice.
Then, we no longer need to gently return our mind to joy, because we have already realized that we ARE Joy. Stress and fear do not have to dissolve in order for us to experience Joy. They lose their influence as we remember to focus on our infinite Potential that is our Divinity. This is how it is to be a child again. Not running away from our experiences and circumstances; cry when we need to cry, be angry when we need to be angry, celebrate when it is time to celebrate. However, throughout all our ups and downs in Life, we perceive Joy in all our experiences and what makes us Divine.
Maybe today you contemplate the following scripture verse: “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). Learn to see the Peace and Joy within you beyond the food and drink of the everyday. Do not get distracted by your circumstances, but watch out for your higher Self that encompasses all. Joy, Love, Compassion, Wisdom…It is all there to be expressed by you in any way you desire. Nothing and no one is holding you back. You may be a child again and carefree. En-Joy!
And so it is. Amen.
Jean-Marie
Rev. Jean-Marie Schweizer
Senior Minister Unity Fort Worth