Choosing Joy

Description

At Christmas we hear angels proclaim “good tidings of great joy,” yet real life often shows up heavy, complicated, and demanding. I am reflecting on how joy does not arrive once everything settles down, because it almost never does. Mary and Joseph are commanded by Caesar to travel late in pregnancy, under political pressure, financial fear, and personal uncertainty, and that hard journey becomes the very place where God is born. That matters. Joy is not surface happiness or emotional denial. It is a deeper spiritual rhythm, a true north we choose again and again, even while life throws curveballs. In Swedenborg’s language, joy flows from love aligned with heaven, and when we choose it, it creates wisdom for how we walk through hardship. I have seen this lived out by people with every reason to despair who still choose joy day after day. When joy becomes the starting point, it forms how we see, how we endure, and how we discover God in places we never expected. This Christmas, I am inviting you to make that simple, courageous choice and let joy shape the way you hold whatever comes next.