Article November 22, 1993 Issue

Cultivating the capacity for joy

Joy is always available to us. Let's be willing to express it!

Joyce D. Wethe

The Bible is rich with assurances that joy is always available to us, and yet we often seem faced with obstacles to that promised joy. At times we may feel it would be Pollyannish to insist on joy when the loss of a loved one, financial worries, pressures of the workplace, or any number of circumstances would appear to render joy a present impossibility.

Even if these troubles do not touch us personally, it can be difficult to observe them in the lives of others and not feel distressed. There may also be times when we feel depressed for no apparent reason. Where is joy then?

Through the study of Christian Science we come to see that joy is a spiritual quality that man naturally includes as God's image. Because joy is God-derived and spiritual, it is actually independent of any material circumstance. Perhaps what we need, then, is to cultivate a capacity to accept joy as native to us and to express it. This begins with surrendering human will. Are we truly willing to express joy at all times, or are we insisting that it be prefaced by some event or condition?

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