I turned onto my street this afternoon, just another glorious cerulean, cotton-ball-dotted-sky kind of February day in Phoenix when I passed a man walking his two dogs. Not an uncommon sight, yes? No, I didn’t think so either until I looked closer. One dog, very little Chihuahua-type thing, one lab, almost baby elephant size. The yipper-yapper trotted along as they generally do, tale held high, chest puffed out – Napoleon- complex style. The lab, well, the lab was just being a lab. (If you have a lab, know a lab, been around a lab ever in your life you know what I mean by that.) But this lab was giving it a little extra effort. This lab was skipping along carrying a lime green stuffed animal in his mouth.
I laughed aloud because I always make Jug drop his toys by the front door before we leave, afraid he’ll loose that toy somewhere when he gets bored with it, and Jug, well, Jug always looks at me like I have stolen his joy. But this lab gamboling by my car with his neon toy was wagging his whole body happily. This lab was literally carrying his joy with him.
As I drove the few remaining blocks home I contemplated what carrying joy would look like for me. Do I drop it at my front door before I leave the house, afraid that if I carry it outside with me, I’ll misplace it, hand it over to someone unworthy, or simply let it slip away like a child with a helium balloon? Or, do I carry it with me wherever I go, much like the happy lab, letting my lime green toy show proudly for the world to see? Honestly, I think it depends on the day and what is going on in my life at the time, and this answer fails to satisfy. Why? Because in that answer, I have mistakenly equated joy and happens.
Joy does not equal happiness. Joy grows and flows from something internal while happiness is dependent on our circumstances – things beyond our control. Joy, I believe, is something we cultivate, learn to be comfortable resting in its presence and warmth while happiness requires simply being given a bouquet of daisies or receive a heartfelt hand-written card or, for others, a free trip to Paris or a house in Malibu or whatever else you happen to value.
Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. If we know Him, then we are capable of infinite joy. Indeed, perhaps we are then responsible for carrying our lime green stuffed animals with us anywhere and everywhere so that all may know we belong to Him. Otherwise, what do those who do not know Him see when they look at us – when they look at me? If we (I) fail to possess the joy of knowing Him, of belonging to Him, then what is the point of walking with Him?
I want that joy – that neon stuffed toy – to be what others see when they see me. Maybe then they’ll want their own stuffed animal to carry around, too; they’ll want to know Him and love Him and walk with Him as I strive to do. And that stuffed animal –it doesn’t have to be green. In fact, I think I want mine to be pink.
The Unexpected Life 