“From joy to joy”
“There are days we live as if death were nowhere in the background, from joy to joy to joy…” Li-Young Lee I thought of this quotation as I have experienced the joy, relief, sense of freedom, and the delight in the tangible presence of loved ones now that the worst of the pandemic seems to be behind us – though I am aware of necessary caution. It has been a going from joy to joy to joy. I just helped my cousin celebrate her 93 rd birthday, surrounded, finally, by people who love her and had longed for her delightful conversation, sass, spark, and tenderness – we truly rejoiced in that event – from joy to joy. I am led to ponder, however, the deeper meanings to these days – what opens us, me, to joy? How do I know it as God intends? How is it different from being happy? Contented? How does being “in joy” open me to give, respond, step out more courageously, more generously? ...