Better things

Here’s a confession. I’ve consumed more news in the past few weeks than one should take in over the course of a whole year. My 6th grader asked me what my screen time was last week, and I evaded that question with shame. Not only was my screen time astounding, but the nature of the content during all that time was largely depressing.

This is ironic because I well know the dangers of information overload, and I even enforce strict screen time limits on my kids. I know we become what we think about. Several years ago I came across a passage in The Message that I knew I would need to see often. I printed it off and placed in a magnetic frame that sticks to the back of our kitchen door. It reads:

“I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” Philippians 4:8 (The Message)

I pass by this magnet countless times a day. And yet, I tap the news headlines. I open the apps. I find myself spending most of my hours meditating on things alarming and disturbing. Scary and ugly. Some days, I get especially hung up on things to curse. (This was really easy to do in 2020).

Our thoughts are powerful. And left unchecked, mine spiral in the direction of worry and despair. Even my girls have pointed this out by noting: “Mom, you always think of the worst case scenario.” Or worse yet, “We hardly ever see you laugh.”

Laughter feels silly and insensitive some days. Optimism can even feel naive given our current national climate. So, what are we to do? I don’t know for sure, but if we take our cues from scripture and the words of wiser people I think it begins with intentionally meditating on and thinking about better things. Things that are beautiful and praiseworthy to counter all that is ugly and curse-worthy. And I think we have to allow ourselves to think about things that rekindle our joy.

Something in me hesitates to fully embrace or savor joyful, happy moments for fear they’re undeserved or will be taken away. I have a scarcity mindset about joy and a cynical mindset about optimism.

But Dallas Willard says: “We should… think that God leads a very interesting life, and that he is full of joy. Undoubtedly he is the most joyous being in the universe… All of the good and beautiful things from which we occasionally drink tiny droplets of soul-exhilarating joy, God continuously experiences in all their breadth and depth and richness.”

Our God is one of hope and joy. And this remains true no matter what is happening around us. Last year it was easier than ever to play it safe and settle into a globally understood pessimism about the year as a whole and about the future of the world in general. Understandably, it’s hard to head into 2021 as perpetual optimists with joyful expectancy.

But for our health and our hearts, for our homes and our witness to the rest of the world… we must do so.

I discovered the poetry of Mary Oliver and few years ago, and much of what she writes speaks hope into our current situation. Here is her poem on joy:

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happened better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Mary Oliver, “Don’t Hesitate”

Surely we can all find hope in remembering that “life has some possibility left.” We cannot and should not ignore the seriousness of all that’s happening in our nation and in our world. Yet we also don’t want to abandon our hope and our joy. What a gift our lightness of spirit could be for some of the hurt and heaviness around us.

In 1907, when Henry van Dyke penned the words to they hymn we know as “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” everything wasn’t rosy in the world around him. Tensions were high and people were worried as the global powers were on the cusp of entering into World War I. So he leaned into his progressive Christian hope to write these words:

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee
God of glory, Lord of love
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee
Op’ning to the Sun above
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
drive the dark of doubt away
Giver of immortal gladness
Fill us with the light of day

Maybe more than ever we need the Lord’s help to melt our clouds of sin and sadness; to drive the dark of our doubts away.

Joy is not made to be a crumb. And that’s a thought worth thinking about.