Encapsulated Personal Joy: An Easy Pill to Swallow
The dance video above is one that I took while in Europe about two years ago. I woke up and was getting ready to go walk down to the beach and this outfit made me think of salsa dancing and I had no reason not to indulge myself in a mini dance break…so I did. No music. No partner. I recorded it for myself because it made me really happy to see myself so happy. That's not something you may find yourself saying or thinking often. We love to see others happy and be a part of their joy-gift, and that is a beautiful thing, BUT we are also to make our own joy out of what God has provided and relish in seeing it happen. When was the last time you focused on your own joy? I chose this video for this post because it captured exactly what I want to talk about today: personal joy.
I want you to read these next two paragraphs out loud and finish their last sentences:
If I find joy within myself, one that is not determined by, defined by, limited by, controlled by, or looked at through the eyes of the world, people, my job, my life happenings, what I produce, my love life, or personal relationships I will then cultivate…
If I find joy, a joy that is encapsulated, right in the center of me, one that I wake up and create, one that is formed from my character...about how I hear my own voice, the feeling of my heartbeat, how the curve of my mouth looks (and how it feels) when I smile, the bright gleam of my eyes, the curls of my hair or the shininess of my beautifully bald head, the freedom I feel as I dance without judgement, the crazy singing I do in my car, the way that I unapologetically laugh hysterically at my own jokes, the way that I walk into a room, what I talk about, what brings me freedom, and how honest I am with myself, then I will experience…
These above run-on paragraphs are the "if" statements I want us to focus on when it comes to creating our personal joy.
So, what's the result?
I will then create joy not manufactured by or dependent on others, things, goals, etc. I will look at joy as peace…like the lyric, “This joy that I have, the world didn't give it to me, and the world can't take it away.” Well, if the world didn’t give it to me, the world surely cannot create it for me either, because if I am looking externally for joy, I am going to constantly, repeatedly, and without fail, be disappointed.
Curl check:
I didn't write any of that to say that other things, people, and happenings of life cannot bring you joy, like a gift...they just cannot be your joy. They add to your already internally deposited amount. Do not give anything the power to subtract from your joy-o-meter. Are you making sure you're the one in control of your balance scales? Do you depend on accomplishments to have happiness? Even if you don’t get the position, or your heart is broken, that doesn’t change who you are at your core and therefore your joy should be unscathed.
Any of these sound familiar?:
If my job would look like this...
If my spouse would treat me like this...
If my children would behave like this...
If my relationships would be like this...
If my success would look like this...
If my finances would line up like this...
If my body would look like this...
If my skin would look like this...
If my life would turn out like this...
If God would only...
If we are always measuring our personal joy by these “if” statements, our joy will continue to be in a state of iffy-ness. It will waffle and be off balance and we will wonder why we cannot find a fullness in life. You can and should have ambition, but not at the expense of your peace. So, let’s go back to this encapsulation idea…
Encapsulation (verb): the action of enclosing something in or as if in a capsule.
Impenetrable outer layer
Nutrient-rich contents
Best results when taken daily
If I enclose "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy" (Philippians 4:8 NIT) within myself, I will possess joy. I must take that encapsulated pill everyday, swig it down with some refreshing Living Water (the Word), in order to have the completeness that I long for without considering how others MAY see me or how the world WILL react to my existence.
Curl check:
1. You need an impenetrable outer layer of faith - believing in your heart that the Father has something great in store for you everyday. That may be something that you get to do or something that you will receive.
2. A nutrient-rich life is one founded in reading the Bible in order to understand how you relate to God and His world, while engaging in prayer for conversation on how to turn understanding into action.
3. If you do not put into daily practice the above steps, progress is halted and joy is susceptible to dilution brought by ingesting manufactured worth from others, things, or goals, etc.
Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:10 states that "we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." I have to believe in God's masterful creating power to grasp just how capable I am of pure joy. It cannot be something that I believe is taken away or diminished; it is something continuously present in spite of life.
Dr. Bruce K. Waltke asserts that "the difference between exhilaration and depression depends more on a person's spiritual resources than on his circumstances." That means that in real relationship with God, there is protection for our joy. We are responsible for staying connected to Him in order to maintain a healthy happiness. That's just like the advisement on the back of any pill bottle, suggesting the daily dosage...you must take the joy of the Lord in everyday!
"A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22
I passionately want to engrave in your mind that you are a masterful overproduction of joy. Sometimes we mask ourselves to even realizing it, but God has given us a created body full of it. Consider children and all the joy they have just in themselves…just by being free. They have encapsulated a joy that is individualized; it is responsible for their happiness and it is respected by their actions. Life is going to let us down AND our joy cannot be ruptured, severed, or damaged because of it. Our joy has to be internally worked on every single day. At some point in our lives it cannot be something we turn on, but it has to be something that is already muttering within us.
Some time ago my mom was sharing her concern with me about her refrigerator humming presumably louder than normal, making her nervous that it may break down soon. Finding it a bit comical, I told her I think fridges hum, I think that’s just a part of their makeup and they’re created in a way that they constantly make a noise because they are working. It could be that you have just noticed it, but the noise has been there all along. Now, if it were revving up and down, going in and out of being audible and then silent, I'd consider getting it checked because it's not being consistent in what it should be doing. Read that again!
Applying this same principle to joy, if we can get past “oh, I can hear it happening, something must be wrong, this goodness won't last long, it's on the brink of dying out,” we would realize that this constant humming “joy” noise is a part of who we are…we are always motoring in joy. We are always working in it and God doesn’t give us joy so that we live in anticipation for the other shoe to drop or for life to eventually turn sour. Just because we have now become cognizant to joy’s presence doesn't mean that it will soon be taken away. We simply must continue to operate as we have to maintain it. We are not searching for joy, it is already in us and we work with it to create a better life.
"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty One who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing" (Zephaniah 17:22).
If you do not remember anything else, call this to memory:
God is your encapsulated joy, and when you ingest His affirming words, everywhere you take Him you will find yourself surrounded by His rejoicing in you, a reassured love, and a loud singing...an elated singing so sweet you must hum along.
Dance in your JOY! It’s already YOURS!
Smile, Shine, and Love Curlfriends!
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I love you, Curls!
