Spiritual life is not a pill we take to make us happy.
Spiritual life does not always make me feel happy or satisfied. Some of the greatest lessons spiritual life has taught me are lessons of lamentation and grief. Some of the best gifts I have been given come from my own dissatisfactions.
For some, spiritual life sounds formal and repressed, filled with rules, as far from joy as they can imagine. For others, the joy of spiritual life is something they need to work themselves into, building momentum. Joy in spiritual life can feel false, something that needs to be put on to go out in public.
Spiritual life can be filled with consolation and love. I know that I am loved most deeply when I experience pain and suffering. Spiritual life can give us joy.
In the same way light shines in darkness and the music of the universe is heard in the silence, joy enters our lives. When we most need it, when we feel coldest and most abandoned, joy breaks in to remind us.
I know people who remember joy, even in the most trying circumstances. They inspire me, not because they work so hard to remember joy, but because they do remember. They are beacons in the dark.
The most moving and joyful times of my life flow from spiritual life. Some of those times have come from long, hard struggles to remember joy. Sometimes they have caught me by surprise, joy welling up from deep within. They are gifts I have not earned.
I pause, and breathe in. I close my eyes, and the joy of spiritual life pours into me. I smile, and feel like jumping for joy.
What gives you your greatest joy?
Where is the joy in spiritual life for you?
[Image by Tigr]
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