You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy… — Psalm 16:11
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations … — Isaiah 42:6
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Light the three candles. Note how hope and peace come prior to joy. Yet together they shine more brightly, because each needs the other to create more radiance.
So what spiritual practices support joy? The Book of Joy, a shared interview with the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, cites ‘the three factors that seem to have the greatest influence … are our ability to reframe our situation more positively, our ability to experience gratitude, and our choice to be kind and generous.’ This week, you will re-visit each of these concepts as fertile points of growth and change.
Already among meditations on hope informed by Option B and Reason for Hope, you explored the practice of re-framing your worldview to be realistic and positive, with an expectation that you are empowered to create change. In the reflections on peace, daily habits of gratitude were one of the spiritual practices you considered. Finally, the Book of Joy also emphasizes outward-focused acts of kindness and generosity.
Which of these habits is already part of your life? Which one do you need to strengthen?
Let joy burn along with hope and peace. They are all connected, and they feed each other’s light. — Rev Gail
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When you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy. ― Rumi
Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself. – Desiderius Erasmus