After a spectacular first half of the show, the crowd all headed out to the lobby for intermission. A herd of women got in line to use the restroom, as we do. Like most restroom lines, we all tried to wait patiently while the line moved about as fast as a herd of snails. None of us wanted to get out of line and we all wanted to make it back before the second half of the show.

Well, in this line, on this day, something very unexpected happened. To this day, I have never had a similar experience.

As we made our way through the line, it was an exciting moment where we transitioned out of the lobby line through the actual doorway to the restroom. It meant we were making progress! We had almost arrived.

The Pantageous restroom has an outer room for checking your makeup and then an inner room where you take care of business. So, once you get to the inner room where the stalls are, you’ve almost reached the Promised Land. Sometimes there is an attendant there to help you – this is a mysterious job! Their purpose is only known to them. Is it to keep the restroom clean? Not sure. Is it to keep us from stealing things? Again, not sure. Well, this particular attendant was crystal clear on her purpose. She stood at the front of the line to the Promised Land, and as soon as a stall door opened, she had a word that she shared with each woman as she directed them to the open stall. It was different but also the same. 

“You’ve got this.” 

“Good luck in there.” 

“You can do it.” 

“Hey, we’re cheering you on in there.”

“We’ll be right here when you get back.”

I was giggling the whole time I was taking care of business. This 20-something-year-old, who had possibly drawn the short straw and got stuck as the bathroom monitor, had found a way to bring some unexpected joy into a monotonous line that was filled with women stressed to get back out to the second half of the show. This unexpected moment of joy became more memorable to me than all the professional actors. Employee of the year!

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Unexpected joy has a kind of unique sweetness to it because we didn’t see it coming. There are some joys in life that are so fun to get to anticipate – a new baby, a wedding, a reunion, a celebration…

But we all have seasons that don’t feel very joy-filled. Joy would not be the word we would typically use in a hard season. Most of life is a mixture. There are some things going well and some things that are hard and complicated – all at the same time. We often live in the threshold of that combination.

The hard moments can be a joy stealer. So, how do we get our joy back? How do we return to joy?

During Advent, we have a unique opportunity to look for joy – maybe in some unexpected places and unexpected ways. Over the next week, leading up to Christmas, we get to think about joy, talk about joy, and look for joy.

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:12

You can only restore something that was originally there. As people of faith, joy is talked about in Scripture as deeply connected to a relationship with God.Nehemiah talks about how the joy of the Lord is our strength. God has joy in abundance – more than enough to share. Enough that overflows to become strength for us. I’ve always found that beautiful and inviting. How does joy give us strength? Here’s what I’ve found to be true about joy:

Joy is important.
Joy is awesome.
Joy is possible.

The angels declared joy when Jesus was born. “Joy to the world, the Lord has come.” The joy was not just about a new baby, but about the person of Jesus. Immanuel, “God with us,” was here. It was a fresh, new way for us to understand and live in joy.

Joy is dependent on who Jesus is, rather than on who we are or what is happening around us. 

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” John 17:13

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My husband came home with a cotton candy machine recently and my kids were all measuring out the sugar to put into this machine to then heat up and turn into fluff. They used a full measure of the special cup that the machine came with to get the right amount into that machine.

Jesus said that when He was around, there was a fullness of joy. This is the joy that Jesus wanted us to know and live in. It doesn’t make this world’s hardships any less painful, but it does mean that we can feel all our emotions, the good and hard, and also have joy in the mix. When Jesus is with us, we always have His joy. He promises to never leave us or forsake us. Our challenge becomes how we return to that joy when the world is so good at stealing it.

One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy. When we see joy in people, it is evidence of the character of God. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there can be joy. 

Joy is found in a relational connection with God. The entire Trinity is full of joy. We can trace joy from the Old Testament God to the person of Jesus to the giving of the Holy Spirit. God is utterly committed to your joy. Even in the midst of our broken world, sin and suffering, mess and misery, joy is possible. Joy is powerful.May we be a people who are looking for joy in unexpected places, leading with joy to surprise those stuck in the monotony of life, and speaking joy so that it can be the light when the world is dark.

 

By: Pastor Lisa Toney