I am looking out over the trinity river from one of my favorite bridges.
It is twilight now, the last rays of the sun catch and dance over the water. The birds are nestling in for the night on the branches of a graceful old oak that stretches over the water. Peace and joy come to this moment in waves. Joy; happiness. The pursuit of one over the other. The best way I can describe this is with the help of this river:
Happiness is like the ripples on the water. You drop something into the river and watch as the surface is effected, an effect that extends in all directions and is very visible to all those who look. A stone, a stick, money, concert tickets, nice clothes….. Though the ripples never last for long. Soon you will need to drop in more and more to keep the effect going. Heavier and heavier the stones get, bigger and bigger the sticks get. All too soon, you are tired of this pursuit. No matter how large or heavy the object you toss into the river is, it leaves no truly permanent mark. The river swallows the rocks and the sticks are swept down stream. All those trips to Mexico and Italy, all the latest gadgets and gismos bring with them such a fleeting sense of happiness. Now Joy, Joy is the river’s current, steady, sure, dependable. Always present, though not always seen. It is a great force, pushing things along ever forward. The current even shapes the river bed to a degree. The surface disturbances can not stop it nor deter it.
What would you choose today, happiness or joy? Fleeting ripples on the surface of the river of life or a deep steady current pacing and guiding the flow of that river of life?
Choose joy. It is happiness at its most content, peaceable, and mature state. It is what God longs to give you and what Jesus generously offers.
Choose Joy.
John 17:13 “Now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have My joy completed in them.”
(emphasis added)
