Happiness is dependent on circumstances (these can
be specific or general). Joy is not.
The opposite of happiness is sadness. The opposite
of joy is fear.
My friend Dan died yesterday. I feel sad, a sadness
beyond words. There is no room for happiness right now. But I am overwhelmed by
joy. Joy that Dan is with Jesus. Joy that I am in Jesus, and so Dan and I are
one with another. Joy in response to the immeasurable, unerodable wonder that
Dan brought to the world, by which all creation is moved closer to what God
always hoped and dreamed for it to be.
The intensity of both my sadness and my joy will
fade in time. But the sadness will fade completely, and I shall know happiness
(and other sadnesses) again. The joy will lay down an ever-thickening layer of
life, every time I think of my friend, every time we ‘meet’ again, until we
meet again.
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