JOY

My Dear Reader; I hope you noticed a different nucleus in my posting last Friday; It reflects my repentance! No fanfare. No parade. Only simple ambiance. Upon reviewing my most recent Fridays With Willis Posts, I awakened to the reality that I wobbled widely from my bourne; flitting from one attraction to another, like a butterfly with a bad compass.  My original intent here was, is, and shall be, “Finding Joy in the Journey.”  The Masthead states it clearly. You would think the wizard would at least keep on course! Well. He did not. Call it the euphoria of publishing, or the unsettling impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, or just plain distraction. Whatever got into me, I confess. I missed the target. I repent.

Therefore, I turned over a new leaf. No. Actually I returned to the original: Joy in The Journey. Everyone is on a journey. For some it is a joy-filled journey; for some it is a well-appointed journey—filled with happy discovery of serendipities. for some it is a journey of fits and starts. Everyone’s journey demands attention, one way or another. You either flounder in frustration or hitch up your britches and hike on. Mostly, the journey is what you make it.

Joy in the journey comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and costumes. Often it sneaks up on you like a summer shower. I recall such a journey, begun ages ago. I was twelve years old. I thought knew all I needed to know—and more, when my mother announced, “We’re all going to the Sunday afternoon youth service. I resisted; to put it mildly. “I won’t know anyone there.” Said I, ” It will be boring. It will last too long.” My protests fell on deaf ears. Well, she could hear, she simply chose not to hear. I went. My expectations were wrong.

Somewhere during the afternoon, my attitude changed. Turns out, looking back on that day, the epiphany of a lifetime-calling (Calling and Vocation are from the same root) came from the event. As I often say, “I tend to see God in action—through the rearview mirror.” Hindsight, it is. Such occasions of hindsight tend to be beneficial for self-understanding—–if they don’t come too late! Sometimes I wish I had reliable radar to alert me to what God is doing, or going to do. I do know this; God was, is, and shall be—doing.

Jesus made it clear; “ Set your heart on the kingdom and his goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course.” (JBP) While doing my doctoral studies, we put a lot of emphasis on “First Things First.” You don’t have to be a “neat freak” to know disorder can steal your joy. You’ve heard that someone “…got up on the wrong side of the bed!” –the person was all out of sorts; didn’t put first things first. In a word, Joyless!

Bill Powell, a “Drive-to-Work” DJ at WMAZ radio, Macon, GA (in the 1970’s), often said, “I-love my work!! If I didn’t need this job to make a living living, I would do this every day for free!” You could tell he found great joy in his work. Work, or a vocation, is essentially a lifelong journey. Someone told me recently,  “If you find a vocation you really love, you will never work a day in your life.!”  Oh, it will be work to someone else, but as Grandaddy Veal would say, “It is hog heaven!” Now, that’s finding joy in the Journey!