Here And Joyful
Lucy Holt
Two words which have come up in several conversations over the last couple of weeks for me are 'Here' and also 'Joyful'. Over the summer someone recommended the book ‘Naked Spirituality’ to me. (Spoiler - it’s not about being actually naked!) It’s a really interesting book about meeting God with honesty in different seasons of life. The book looks at twelve words for different prayerful interactions we may have with God.
The first word is ‘Here’.
The place we start in prayer & in connecting with God is to acknowledge that we are here, and God is here. ‘Here’ can mean our physical location - here I am sat in my kitchen - but it is more than that. ‘Here’ means noticing who we are, and the situations & relationships with us, are our present reality. Just as my new school students begin each lesson by answering the register; we are telling God we are here & present when we turn to prayer, whether it is out loud or silently.
‘Here’ includes saying “here I am God” in all the areas of life which are going well, and in the things which haven't turned out as I expected.
“Here I am in this body, with its limitations and challenges”.
“Here I am at this point in my life”.
Then we can also acknowledge that God is here with us, as we've begun discussing in the Sunday sermon series. The God of the Universe is here with us in our ordinary lives: “Here we are together”.
The other word is ‘Joyful’, or more specifically the way that joy is sometimes different to happiness but often connected to gratitude.
We are in the middle of decorating our kitchen. It's not always fun, but it is exciting - the anticipation of having a space which works for the flow of family life and lets us welcome guests is real. I am certainly grateful for Alex's DIY skills and his hard work. Right now it's also a challenge & extra effort to cook anything at all, and a lot of extra work for us both to fit in. I'm not always happy at this way to spend the evenings, but I do feel joy in it.
The contrast between challenges, and choosing to find joy where we can, reminds me of Psalm 13. The first four verses describe a dark and difficult time, which is where the author finds themselves at that moment. They do not feel like God is with them. Yet in verse 5 it says:
‘But I trust in your unfailing love;
My heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord's praise,
for he has been good to me.’
(Psalm 13: 5-6)
God can be with us even when it doesn't feel like it, and joy can break through in surprising moments even when happiness seems far away.
