Today is a big day for me... and my daughter, and her friend. It is the day when we see For King and Country with Lauren Daigle in the Christmas show. If you ask my daughter, it is a day of joy. If you ask me, however, it has been a week of gearing up for a loud, crowded auditorium preceded by my driving across town to first pick up a friend, sit for about 5 hours through a Q&A and attempt to get the girls to meet the band, and then dropping off friend before arriving home to my comfy, cozy introvert palace of peace.
How do I tap into my daughter's joy?
Let me give you a back story to how this all came down - It started in September, when the tickets went on sale. My daughter talked me into convincing my hubby to take her to the show. As I went online to get the tickets, I saw the seats were selling quickly, and so we also purchased a ticket for my daughter's friend who could not go with her parent, because her mom had to work and her dad would need to watch the younger siblings. So, I snatched up 3 tickets intended for my daughter, her friend, and my husband who would do all of the driving and sitting through the concert..... Neither of which are my thing.
Then, the day came when my husband realized he had double booked, or rather triple booked, his day for the day of the concert. he proceeded to cancel one performance he had scheduled and take on the second booking that wanted to add an hour to his show and pay more money, which we desperately are in need of. This meant that he was cutting it close to make it to the concert on time let alone pick up a friend. So, as I began figuring out how to get the girls to the show, As the days went on, he also realized that the band in which he is doing a reunion show with needed to practice on Sunday, and if he couldn't make it to rehearsal, he would have to reschedule and juggle make-up lessons for his guitar students the following week in an effort to get together with his band for rehearsal. I realized that it made the most sense for me to just take them.
There was no joy in this for me!
So, I spent the week gearing up for a hyper social weekend. The weekend would not only consist of my driving two girls to and sitting through a concert, but would begin on Saturday with my shuttling this same daughter back and forth and attending her dessert theater performance of a Christmas 1940s radio drama the night before the concert.
While, this might muster up excitement for you extroverts, it was:
TOO MUCH SOCIAL ACTIVITY FOR THIS INTROVERT WHO HAS PANIC ATTACKS AT THE THOUGHT OF IT ALL!
So, how does one muster up joy in a situation that leaves them out of their comfort zone...... So very far out of their comfort zone?
I looked to my daughter. I began to tap into her joy. I saw that this concert meant so much to her. She has been counting down to it for days and jumps with thrilled joy at the very mention of it. How do I share in this joy?
Her joy would have to bubble over so much that it would touch my lack of enthusiasm, bordering on panic at the thought of driving, being responsible for another person's teen, and sitting in a crowded arena. Her joy would have to be so abundant that she could share it with me.
That's how it is with God's joy. In situations where He gives peace that passes all human understanding, there is joy. He is so filled with Joy, his very being and nature is joy. It's there for us to tap into if we only have the desire and make a step toward this abundance of joy.
Is joy something you can muster up all by yourself? I really don't think so. I really believe that true joy is only found when we are in the presence of God. The Bible says:
You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11
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