When you’re a kid, finding the joy of Christmas is easy. As we grow older, joy becomes harder to find. It feels risky, naïve, or even unwarranted. How can we open ourselves up to pure joy even though we know the joyful moments never last?
(Holding out for joy without pain means postponing joy indefinitely. God teaches us to embrace joy in the moment that it’s given, as a child would, celebrating the truly worthy gifts of God alongside the negatives that already exist or might come next. Joy does not invalidate the brokenness of our world but already sees it redeemed by Jesus, filling us with gratitude).
