The Beat of Joy's Fragile Dance

 

Joy. Sorrow.
Pain. Peace.
Good. Bad..
Negative. Positive.

Strengths. Weaknesses.

Responding. Reacting.

It seems that life is continually pulling us one way or the other; creating a dance that at the best of times leaves us panting, questioning, and wondering if we'll ever learn the steps.  

This push/pull between life ebbing and flowing, between the moments that make our hearts soar or leave it floundering, create a dance that I too often find myself stumbling over the steps.

Sometimes I'm too much and other times it's just right.  

Sometimes we laugh too loudly or maybe not at all.

It rains too much or not enough.

Life hands us a loss and/or a promotion.

Sometimes I'm too exuberant in sharing and other times it was apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Sometimes someone likes me and then they don't.

One moment we may be rejoicing and the next left in tears.

I trust God one time and the next I find myself reaching for what I can manage.

One time my prayer is granted and another seems to remain unheeded.

How do we give thanks in everything?  What does choosing Jesus look like when the stormy winds blow?  Is He still good?

I have never learn to actually dance but I figure it comes more naturally for some, while others trip over their feet and wonder if they'll ever get it to flow smoothly.

Well, to be honest, the latter seems to be where I find myself  more than not it may seem; in this joy thing while in the middle of not-so-joy moments that make up the daily life we live.  

Maybe it's not so much living with one or the other but a learning to accept both, to embrace the good and the hard, the both/and of life.

So, I have a few questions....
1) How do I define good?  What is good?  Maybe I need to readjust my terminology...
2) We have the Words of Jesus in John... In Me your joy is complete.  In Philippians we are told we can have a peace which passes understanding.  
Words that are written, held within the Bible, that lead us to a full life and one that has an abundance of what we need. 

Jesus has promised to meet our needs. 

Maybe our needs go deeper than what we think we need. 

Joy in the midst of pain. 

Peace in the middle of chaos. 

Life in the midst of death. 

So, based on these Truths, there is a way for peace and joy while experiencing a broken body, pain that doesn't go away, a situation that doesn't change... you fill in the blank.

And that, I find, is the fragile dance for me that so often I trip in.  But I am writing, more for my sake, and to forever be reminded to take the next step...  To get back in the rhythm and to hear the heartbeat of my Heavenly Father and dance to the music He plays. Joy. Is. In. Him.  John 15:11