Finding Joy in Prayer

Dear Eternity, 

Joy is a beautiful emotion. It resonates deep within and brightens everything we experience. Like Love and Peace, Joy can be seen as a ‘ruling emotion’ that bears beautiful fruit.
 
Joy is a gift of God and a primary characteristic of God. We receive joy from God for the same reason we receive love: because joyfulness is a significant part of God’s nature. King David exclaims in Psalm 16, “in your presence there is fullness of joy.”
 
When we search for God, we are in search of joy. To find God is to find joy. Yet we ponder at Advent a Joy that suffers, that experiences limitation, that empties himself to become one of us. Motivated by joy set before him, Jesus endures great suffering and death, so that Presence can be restored among mankind.
 
Joy, Suffering, Presence…all these movements of God begin at a manger.   This Advent season, the God of Joy is waiting to be encountered at the mangers of our lives. Let us move toward him there this Sunday!
 
Blessings,
Peter DuMont