When Joy Comes In
Topic(s): Finding Meaning, Living Through Hard Times
When Joy Comes In!
I don't have to tell you how hard this life can be
You already know that as well as I do (and please don't think of this as poetry because I'm not actually a poet)
Instead,
What I want to tell you about today is this:
How I Watch, listen, feel
Notice
Those moments, sometimes fleeting,
When the joy comes in
The joy comes in
When we try to take a family picture on a neighborhood walk on Thanksgiving Day
But only manage to get a funny view of the street, and we giggle
The joy comes in
When we get out of the house and into the world -
And I want to kiss the person who invented the wheelchair!
The joy comes in
When we get another belly laugh while watching the snowball fight scene in "Elf"
For the 10th time
It comes in
In the gentle ministrations of sweet Buddhist nuns
Who see how tough this is
And walk softly over to offer us love and little presents
It comes in
When the surgeon tells my daughter to get down off of the exam table and take a few steps-
2 days after I overheard her tell her brother that all she really wants for Christmas is to walk
The joy comes in
When after LONG STORY all the problems in school after school
The freshman counselor says "No problem"
"DON'T WORRY!"
"It's OK!"
The joy comes in
When we leave it all behind for a few days
And feel our hearts expand into eternity and sacredness
At the rim of the Grand Canyon
It comes in
When my son (the special sibling) comes bounding into the house after school one day
The long heaviness has lifted and he talks
He tells me he had a good day
The joy comes in
Every night
When we sit down to a hearty hot dinner
And chuckle together in the warm golden sphere of candle light
The joy comes in
Unexpected, out of the blue, a sudden smile
This is a hard life and
What I want to tell you about today is this:
The joy DOES come in
