Joy In a Time of Melancholy

The hope of the righteous brings joy,

but the expectation of the wicked will perish.

~Proverbs 10:28~

For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

~Ecclesiastes 5:20~

You've heard it said that "life is a gift", but have you ever wished that it were a gift that you could exchange, or even return? I have. O, bitter melancholy! It makes you feel helpless and worthless and makes life seem meaningless. And unfortunately, it's not something that, once defeated, is forever gone; it returns over and over again. 

So, if life is folly, as Solomon said, what keeps us from giving up and fermenting in the bile of our sorrows?

Good fortune is a requisite for happiness. When things go wrong in life we become unhappy. The word happy is connected to the word happenstance, meaning that our happiness is dependent upon our circumstances: the happenings of our lives.

It's no wonder people chase money, power, and lustful pleasures: they really do make us happy! The problem is not finding happiness, the trouble is keeping it. Happiness is fleeting. Happiness is grounded in life here and now; by its own definition, we cannot be happy all of the time. 

And then there's joy. Many use joy as a synonym for happiness, but they are two different creatures. Joy can exist in the midst of bad fortune; it can be present regardless of circumstance. Joy is eternal. Joy is rooted in hope and promise. It is steadfast for it comes from our God. Joy gets its strength from the future and it is the source of delight. Joy looks to possibility.

Happiness is an effect; joy is a cause.

We are obsessed with happiness. There are even websites dedicated to happifying our minds and training us to be more satisfied with life. This is all good and well, but maybe we are focusing on the wrong things. Maybe happiness is not the answer (not to say we should not pursue it, it is our right as Americans after-all). Maybe we can't get no satisfaction (insert Mick Jagger voice here) because we are looking in the wrong place. Though the stuff of this life can bring us happiness, the grace that God freely gives offers us a joy that lasts forever. 

When you've got that joy (joy, joy, joy) down in your heart (where?), melancholy doesn't ruin your life and render it meaningless. Joy picks you up, joy gives you reason to keep on truckin' through heartbreak, disappointment, struggle, and all the other crap that life throws your way. 

Joy means thriving despite sadness. 

I would never claim that I am a "happy" person, yet I laugh and smile every day. I have lived a life full of pain and lingering sorrow, but I have persevered. I am a maker of delicious lemonade because I know that this life and all of its lemons are not all there is. As Psalm 30:5 says: "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning."