Joy to be had
August 31, 2009
I’m sitting outside on the upper porch of Wynkoop’s now and watching an incredible sunset. Well, I suppose the sun is gone now, but I’m surrounded by purple sky and a breeze of the perfect temperature is making my skin feel the beauty too. And at a time such as this—with no purchased entertainment or blessed life circumstance other than having eyes to see and skin to feel, I am experiencing this “alive” concept that I think we’re all searching for. You can’t plan these things. I’ve never put “Sunset at 8 p.m.” on my calendar. And yet I believe that there is joy to be had everywhere.
This morning I sat with a woman at the prayer table in the front of our Gathering who was crying. She cried because she wanted out. Out of the shelter she has been staying at, out of the drugs, out of the danger. She just wanted a good environment to be in. Maybe she wanted access to the porch I’m sitting on right now. This same woman sat with me at the Salvation Army three months ago and expressed to me her desire to be in ministry. God was calling her, she said. As she cried with me this morning, as much as I understood the desire to flee from all the negativity, I couldn’t help but believe that for her, there was still joy to be had. That she had been given a huge territory at the shelter to spread the light of God. I may have a full-time job in “women’s recovery ministry,” but she, as a recovering addict in a temporary shelter, was truly the one in women’s ministry today. She was the one given countless opportunities daily to radiate the warmth of hope into the lives of hope-less women. No matter what circumstance we are in, we must cling to the fact that God has not forgotten us, and that there is joy to be had in our circumstance. If we desire love and acceptance, we must love and accept. To get our needs met, we must meet the needs of others. There is love to be had, and to gain it ourselves we must, even in our internal poverty, step out in love toward another. In this, we do not create love from within ourselves, but we begin to understand what love truly is and realize how we have been loved by Him, our Source, all along.
