Joy is a resilient emotion in that it can be present in the hardest circumstances.
In the Bible we see everything was going Joseph’s way. He was a just and righteous man who was going to get married. But things didn’t turn out the way he had planned.
He discovered that his wife-to-be, Mary, was pregnant before they got married.
This discovery made public would’ve put Mary in danger and would’ve tarnished his reputation, even though he was a good man. So he resolved to quietly divorce Mary. That is, until an angel intervened and told him the truth of what was happening.
After this, he took Mary to be his wife.
Yes, this is a story on how faithfulness leads to joy. But it’s also a story on how flexibility leads to joy.
At the start of 2020, things may have been going your way. Then as tragedy and disappointment struck, you didn’t know how to respond.
Here, we see Joseph let go of his expectations. We see Joseph abandon the conventional path, the path that some would say he deserved because he did everything right in life.
In being flexible with his expectations and plan, God allowed for him to be a part of a bigger story. Once he let go of what he wanted, he was given a joy he could not comprehend.
No matter what disappointments capsized you this year, we can arrive at joy if we hold our plans and expectations with open hands.
There is always HOPE.
Greater joy is on the horizon. We might have to let go of things in this season to get there, but joy is on the way.