Day 24: Joy

I mentioned in a previous post that I was trying to run 80 miles this advent.  As of this morning, I was at 75 miles, and I had great intentions of finishing today.  But it seemed like everything was stacked against us (Dora was also at 75 and we were planning to run the last 5 together).  Everything started off well - we got up and ready and headed over to the fitness room at our apartment complex.  Which is where things started to go wrong: the doors were locked.  It did seem somehow appropriate as we had this problem frequently toward the beginning of our journey, but we thought we had it all figured out as the card had been working fine the last few days.  At that point, though, we figured the office was open and we could just go through the other way.  However, the office was closed for the holiday.  Which meant we could run outside or lots of loops at the school.  So we decided to wait until the afternoon and attempt the run outside.  So around 3:30 we headed out.  It started off alright, but there were definitely some slick patches. Which I discovered first hand less than a mile in when I wiped out - HARD.  I ended up laying on my stomach on the sidewalk.  I scraped up my knee a bit, so we walked a little ways to where we planned to stop and stretch a bit anyway to see how I felt and what I wanted to do.  

We ended up finishing the 5 mile run we needed to complete the journey to Bethlehem.  It wasn't easy, and there were definitely times that I wondered if I was making the right decision.  Who knows whether I will be able to move tomorrow.  But I knew I wanted to arrive at this goal, and if I could , I was going to do it.  We did have to walk a little bit of today's run, but I finished (and since I had gone a little over on a couple other runs, I still feel truthful saying I ran 80 miles).

So what does this all have to do with joy?  Often we confuse joy with happiness.  But the truth is that happiness often depends on our circumstances.  Joy is possible no matter what your circumstances.  

Joy is wiping out on the sidewalk, and laughing about it before you get back up and keep going.

Joy is continuing to trust God when it seems like the odds are stacked against you.  

Joy is completing a long hard journey, and being thankful for the challenges as well as the easy places that got you there.

Joy is knowing that God came to the earth and experienced all of these challenges that we experience.

Joy is knowing that in this world we will have trouble - but we can take heart - because Christ has overcome the world!  (he said just this in John 16:33)

Joy is knowing that the challenges of this world are not bigger than the God who loves us more than we can imagine.

Joy is so much more than happiness.