I remember being at a church that expected an unnatural silence from my then-toddler. He pulled on my sleeve and asked me for a candy. I told him that I didn't have any. He didn't accept this answer. Finally, I said, “Look it, I can't give you what I do not have. Please stop asking.” My son’s response: “You don’t know because you didn’t look.” He was talking about my purse, but in that moment, it felt like he was talking about my heart. He was right; I didn’t look. So, I gave my purse a superficial glance to end this conversation that was already drawing too much attention (literally and figuratively). And to my surprise, in the bottom of my purse was a stale candy from a long-forgotten Easter egg hunt. My son giggled triumphantly while gladly enjoying the candy, and even the grumpy folks who were annoyed at our conversation smiled at my son’s glee. Such a small reminder of how moments of joy are often surprising moments of sweetness that we didn’t know were possible; a little bit of sweet that may help to make the bitterness more bearable. And now, on those harder days, I often hear my son reminding me to search for the sweetness. I won’t know unless I look, right? Where can we search for joy this Advent?
I know that happiness is not the same thing as joy, but moments of happiness can surely remind us of the deep joy that awaits us with Christ, a small foretaste.
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