Advent Daily Devotional: WEEK of JOY: Day 17 -Tue, Dec 14
I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be complete. — John 15:11
Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
— Ecclesiastes 11:7
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For now, begin with the simple act of being present to whatever is going on within you and around you. Pay attention to your body and its experience.
For instance, engage your senses. What do you see? Hear? Smell? Feel? Taste? Ground yourself by taking this inventory of your senses.
Now focus on a few simple strategies to cultivate joy through bodily self-care.
Inhale. Hold your breath a moment. Exhale slowly. Breathe.
Mindful breathing offers healthful benefits. It lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, and helps regulate your body’s capacity to manage stress and fatigue. It reduces depression, burnout, and negative thinking. It boosts your capacity to manage chronic pain and positively affects the side effects of other illnesses or conditions such as diabetes.
Repeat your breathing cycle. Then repeat it again.
Now smile. Science urges that the act of smiling triggers healthy neurological responses. Floods your brain with positive, empowering chemistry. Improves your wellbeing psychologically and physically.
Joy is connected to your body-mind-spirit connections. While it grows out of spiritual, emotional, and psychological practices, it remains an embodied experience, too.
Let your senses ground you in your surrounds and in your own skin. Now inhale deeply. Hold your breath. Smile wider. As you exhale, blow out the Advent candles. — Rev Gail
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To get the full value of joy you must have
someone to divide it with. ― Mark Twain
An age is called “dark,” not because the light fails to shine
but because people refuse to see it. – James Michener
Advent Daily Devotional: WEEK of JOY: Day 16 – Mon, Dec 13
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
Advent Daily Devotional: WEEK of JOY
House of Joy — Rumi
If you knew yourself for even one moment,
if you could just glimpse
your most beautiful face,
maybe you wouldn’t slumber so deeply
in that house of clay.
Why not move into your house of joy
and shine into every crevice!
For you are the secret
Treasure-bearer, and always have been.
Didn’t you know?
Advent Daily Devotional: WEEK of JOY: Day 15 – Sun, Dec 12
For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. — Isaiah 55:12
No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket,
but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
— Matthew 5:15
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Joy becomes the focus of our candle-lighting this week. How does the light of joy shine in your life?
Joy arises from an internal and spiritual wellspring. It does not depend on external conditions. It exists, independent of circumstances. The Dalai Lama states, in the Book of Joy, “We create most of our suffering, so it should be logical that we also have the ability to create more joy. It simply depends on the attitudes, the perspectives, and the reactions we bring to situations and to our relationships with other people.”
Do you know someone who shines with delight, passion, humor, or joy in the midst of chaos or trauma? How is this possible?
When you light the third Advent candle, and add it to the trio of flames for this season, along with the ones for hope and peace, you invite joy into your heart and mind. — Rev Gail
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… joy came from deeply held spiritual beliefs but it also came from a place even beyond that. Joy comes when you make peace with who you are, where you are, why you are, and who you are not with. When you need nothing more than your truth and the love of a good God to bring peace … — Sandra Brown
We are indeed the light of the world —
but only if our switch is turned on. – John Hagee
Advent Daily Devotional: WEEK of PEACE: DAY 14 – Sat, Dec 11
Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the Lord; and I will heal them. — Isaiah 57:19
… even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. — Psalm 139:12
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On this final day of lighting just two candles and focusing on peace, let the light—magnified by the duo of flames—symbolize the heart of peace. By definition, peace is always relational.
It grows first through your inner connection to self, rooted by holistic internal spiritual, emotional, psychological and bodily wellbeing. Then it turns outward to intimate relationships, and beyond such bonds, to communal networks and systems and how these, ideally, sustain the wellbeing of all people and thus support societal peace. Peace also comprehends the significance of human relationships to the environment and the interdependent, reciprocal nature of people to our world.
How does the natural world offer you peace? Is it a place where you go to seek sanctuary? Spend time outside for athletics or to seek creative inspiration? Do you find your connection through other wild, living creatures or in natural settings? Choose time in the mountains or near the water? Do you work in the garden? Keep animals? Feed or watch the birds? Hike in the woods? Fish? Go boating or kayaking? Swim? Ski? Play another sport outside? Work outside? Play outside? Learn outside? Volunteer outside?
Name the ways you interact with the natural world: holy creation. Your home. Humanity’s home.
Then consider, in what ways do you commit to caring for the environment in your part of the world? By your volunteer hours? Your use of natural spaces? Membership in conservation movements? Personal stewardship choices as a consumer or advocate?
When you enact your values in the ways you choose to live, including your connection to the natural world and its inhabitants, you engage the spiritual practice of peace-building at a communal, environmental level.
Light the two candles. Watch how the light grows proportionately when the pair burns together, rather than as a single spark.
Share your light! — Rev Gail
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Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. — John F. Kennedy
There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. – Edith Wharton
Advent Daily Devotional: WEEK of PEACE: DAY 13 – Fri, Dec 10
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. — Matthew 5:9
Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice
for a light to the peoples. — Isaiah 51:4
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Lighting two candles may be considered an act of creating peace in the community. You kindle flames that generate radiance for everyone in the vicinity.
At its best, peacebuilding grapples with human rights, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability. Acknowledging and responding to such issues contributes to your engagement in the world. It fosters the connection between your inner spiritual self and your community-minded actions.
In this season, do you support a nonprofit or charitable organization that contributes to the overall wellbeing of vulnerable members of your community? Or cares for the sustainability of the natural world? Choosing specific causes to which you give attention, time, and/or resources reflects your values.
By letting your words and deeds align with your priorities, you implement meaningful change based on those values. You feed your spiritual light as well as fueling light in the wider world.
— Rev Gail
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You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. — J. Donald Walters
Give light and people will find the way. — Ella Baker