Sydney Avey
Dynamic Woman — Changing Times
No Joy: Failing to see what is beyond our vision or control
No joy. That was my response to a question–could I recall a trial that ended in restored joy? The challenge was to examine an ordained difficulty. I looked at several trials (growth opportunities we glass-half-full people call them) and concluded that restoration is a process. Apparently, I still have some construction rubble around me.
“No joy” happens to be a phrase pilots use when they fail to see another airplane the tower has warned them to watch out for. The phrase comes from the British sport of fox hunting. When good Brits finally spot the fox, they yell “tallyho!” That means they are on the chase. For obvious reasons, tallyho did not enter the pilot-to-tower cryptic talk. Pilots are supposed to spot other planes in their vicinity and avoid them, not chase them.
No joy when I fail to see
It seems apt. Joy is in discovery. When I have spotted a plane from the right seat, joy has been immediate. “I see it!” My joy has been a mixture of relief and happiness–that plane is miles away, heading in the opposite direction, and my eyes still work. No joy means a potential threat remains unidentified and my eyes may not be working well enough to see it.
It frustrates me to think that I may have come through a trial, learned some hard lessons, but not been fully restored to joy. Something else was out there I failed to recognize. For most trials, there are no do overs. There is only regret and its more productive cousin, repentance. We feel sorry for something we have done or failed to do and we decide to change.
In examining some of the trials I have been through, I see that I took some necessary steps toward a good outcome. I made declarations of independence, set appropriate boundaries, let go of expectations, made myself available, and God restored a measure of peace. Still, there are trials I have survived and learned from, but felt only relief. No joy. What needs to come into view that is still not on my radar?
My heart leaps a little. Where joy has not been fully restored, this is a useful prayer. Dear God, what do I need to see in this situation that I still don’t see? Give me eyes to see. Show me! This is a change I can make. When I have done all I know how to do, I will open my heart and mind to the possibility that I have failed to see or do something beyond my vision or control. The answer may come. It may not. I will make peace with that, and wait. When it comes, tallyho will be my amen.
photo credit: Welcome to Cannock Chase!!! via photopin (license)
Love the pilot/plane illustration!
Is there perhaps a difference between the feeling of joy and the state of joy? Here is how I see it. Feelings of joy are restored when a good outcome from trials brings a mixture of relief and happiness. In focusing on joy as my “word” in 2014, I had the epiphany that true abiding joy is not the opposite of sadness (temporal emotional response to circumstances) but is the opposite of existential despair (a mindset, or heart condition.)
Very well said, Cherie. Being relieved of existential despair gives me peace, but when I am not “feeling the joy,” for an extended period of time, I have to ask myself what I’m missing and look for the way forward. I can hold both joy and sadness–the bittersweet–but only in balance.