Joy is not Happiness

The other night a discussion lead to the above statement, and now this morning I read some additional thoughts on the subject in a little book by Henry Nouwen.


Nouwen toward the end of his essay spoke of gravitating toward the light which drives darkness away. He said:

“Hope is more real than despair
Faith more real than distrust and
Love more real than fear.”

Being able to recognize the spiritual reality from the shadow of darkness is not sentimentalism but truth.
Nouwen went on to describe a friend whose joy was contagious.
“The more I am with him, the more I catch glimpses of the sun shinning through the clouds.”
Knowing that there is a sun behind the clouds however is not sufficient in itself when darkness surrounds and colors all other aspects with its suffocating twilight.
Continuing the description of his friend Nouwen goes on to say that “while his friend always spoke of the sun I (Nouwen) keep speaking about the clouds, until one day I realized that it was the sun that allowed me to see the clouds.”

May we become messengers of hope, speaking of the sun while walking under the dark skies.

“His master answered and said to him,
‘Well done…enter into the joy of your master.’”
Matthew 25:15