Joy!

Joy! What is Joy? According to Merriam-Webster, Joy is: 1) the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires; 2) the expression or exhibition of such emotion; or 3) a source or cause of delight. Hmmm…I think it’s much deeper than this. Joy!

My original intention was to write my next post about the vestibular system, what it does, and why you need it. As many, or probably most, of you reading this have never heard of it, I figured it was a logical next step in our journey together. But a funny thing happened. Actually several things happened, not at the same time, but a series of events, if you will. Events that had been building for a long, long time. Months? Years? Decades? I really don’t know. But I do know that somewhere along the line I have been transformed. Joy!

I should back up. I’m well known to be the ultimate eternal optimist. Actually it’s worse than that. Take the proverbial glass that’s half full/empty. To me, half full or half empty are both positives! In fact, I don’t really know which one is supposed to be negative! I mean, if I have a glass of beverage in this state, chances are I’ve consumed half of what was in that glass already, and have another half to enjoy! Or there’s room to fill it up and have more! So that’s how I roll. I can put a positive spin on just about anything. In fact, the purpose of this entire blog/website is to be positive, to provide support, healing, help. To tell my story in a positive way – how a negative situation can become an opportunity for success. I’ve been told my optimism can be annoying at times, that sometimes one just wants to wallow a bit as part of the healing process. I get that, I really do, and that’s okay for some people. So I just chuckle at that and keep my annoying sunny side quiet for awhile until the opportunity is right. Joy!

I will admit when I first became disabled, actually for some months before that, my optimism lay dormant, and there was a dark cloud hovering over me for a good year or so. Suddenly losing your health, and subsequently your job and main source of income doesn’t lend itself to a warm and fuzzy moment. You’re in limbo, not sure what the future holds, fighting for any sense of normalcy. But it’s hard for me to think of those times in that way now, and as I tell more of my story in the posts ahead, you’ll read about how those negative experiences and challenges were transformed and transformative. Joy!

I realized fairly early in my journey that I had so much to be thankful for – I am blessed in so many ways. I say that often as I tell my story, because it’s true. So many things in my life could have gone the other way. But they didn’t, and for that I am…blessed. Joy!

So, on with the story. A couple weeks ago my wife and I had an amazing opportunity. We attended the annual Christmas play presented by the inmates at the Marion Correctional Institution, here in town. A scary place, and unnerving to enter, even as a visitor. But the prison chaplain is a friend, and we wanted to support him and his work, and we had heard good things about the plays they put on. Well, we were unprepared for what we were going to experience that evening. It was was truly life changing. The best word I can use to describe our reaction to the play was – Joy!

There was so much Joy on stage, there was so much Joy in the audience! Was it the best acting or singing we’d every seen? No, but that is beside the point. On the prison stage was Love and Hope, embodied in the form of individuals who perhaps had not experienced much of either in their lives. For that short time, we were all transported outside the prison walls, where there were no chains, no bonds, we were all free! We were united in the same – Joy!

I realized at that moment how much Joy there is in my life, and that life is too short not to rejoice in it and tell everyone about this overwhelming Joy. Joy is my wife and family, especially my beautiful granddaughter, and my grandson on the way. Joy is my brothers, my extended family, and my friends, who are with me in Joy even as they are mostly far away. Joy is my two cats. Joy is the memories of my late, beautiful dog Ella, to whom I will devote a future post. That is her picture on this post, as she was so filled with Joy, and brought Joy to so many. Joy!

Joy is the relatively good health that I enjoy, even with the daily struggles I face with my disability. Joy is in the music I am blessed to still be able to make, and the beautiful instruments I am blessed to play. Joy is my fellow staff members at the church that I serve, and the congregation who puts up with me. Joy is the nature around me, the birds (and squirrels) at my bird feeders, the trees and foliage, I deeply love all of it. Joy is in the people who come to the house – repairmen, mail carriers, they bring me fellowship to days when I may otherwise be alone. Joy is the people who have come into my life and made a difference – to me, and me to them. My heart is filled with Joy!

One more thing. I am so filled with Joy that so many of you are reading this. That so many have viewed and read my blog, and so many have subscribed. I have received many kind words of encouragement and support. I am inspired, and I hope that my words, my story, can bring some Joy into your lives. In fact, I hope the Joy in my life help you to think about all the Joy in your own life. And that you, in turn, pass on this Joy. I believe it can make a difference. Joy!

Joy!