The Emergence of Joy

“Happiness requires that you find meaning – and meaning comes from suffering.” Arthur Brooks

By: Gabriela Yareliz

SamySam on Instagram has an infectious energy I admire. He stands there and hollers his signature, “Life is goooooood,” and then, does a little dance. I just want to bottle that energy up and keep it in my pocket. I wish my serious, high-strung self had an ounce of the swagger and pep that man carries.

The world lacks joy. We often opt to approach life from an angle of victimhood, self-righteousness, dread, fear, worry, complaint, ego, ingratitude, stagnation in the past, control. These are postures of our false self. None of these postures leads us to joy.

Joy makes us unstoppable, Erwin McManus says. I want more joy. I think we have reduced joy to something it is not, though.

Joy seems to have so many expressions. It can seem like satisfaction and gratitude. It can look like knowing you have and are enough. It can be quiet and brimming or it can be jubilant and announced (like SamySam). But what seems to be constant is that true joy is a solid thing, and it comes from an unexpected source— often if emerges from the ashes like a phoenix. It emerges from hardship, suffering and sorrow. It emerges as a contrast to its background and context. It shines out of darkness. It is strength.

I think part of why joy makes us unstoppable is because it comes out of a context where, by some miracle of God, we are still standing. It is a proven type of strength. I suppose this is why scripture calls the joy of the Lord our strength. (Neh. 8:10) It becomes a cycle. Joy emerges from the struggle like a lifeboat, and then, when the next struggle arrives, we use it to sail through the next storm.

“But I’ve come to realize that I find joy in the hardship, in the struggle, in the process of becoming.” Gor (Mixtapes from Gor)

Today, if at any point you feel the postures of your false self, remind yourself that life is good. You have a boat that can get you through the storm. It’s a type of strength called joy.