I sat there on the mountaintops of Swaziland. The wind wrapped around my face and continued its whispering walk along the valley. The range was layered with peaks and valleys painted by moisture from light to dark blues, nestled around a river that faded into the cliff. A view only a wonderful creator makes. My fingertips brushed over a rock and a soft sensation brushed up my shoulder and joy flooded my mind, entering me into a strange wave of consciousness that visits from time to time. A moment suspended in continual presence, where future and past hold no weight and the worries and stresses of the world suspend itself briefly and you’re left in bliss. Where a strange sense of connectedness to humanity flows through your Spirit and you feel that much closer to Gods heart. My eyes started to water as the wind intensified and despite the immense beauty before me, it started to fade and I retreated into my thoughts.
A smile can be fleeting and laughter can endure for a time, but joy is to be truly treasured. A feeling I rarely knew before following Jesus, so infrequent that even traces of it seemed to give rise to hope. Joy I have learned is a condition of the heart. The world had consumed that once innocent boy, people taught me what I should do, television taught me that I will never be satisfied; school taught me that I needed to perform to become something, and culture taught me that its all about me. Enslaved to a system that never cared. A system built on the sands of selfishness, caging the joy that lay dormant in my heart.
​Jesus has become my joy. Cliché aside, He has slowly stripped the insecurities away. By the blood on The Cross, He has given back what the world ruthlessly stole from me and for that I rejoice. I’m not perfect and never will be, but I stand in a freedom that couldn’t be fathomed without Jesus. The air is a little purer, the grass a little greener, and humanity despite its brokenness, a little more beautiful because a wonderful Savior redeemed this life from the pit.
The view!
