People who know me know that 98% of the time I am positive, even, and generally cheerful. And that about 2% of the time I am in my "Curse God and Die" mode, a bleak place into which I occasionally fall, in which I am convinced there is no meaning, no hope, and I ask myself What Mad Man Thought This All Up???
Those who know me also know that I spend a lot of time tracking Joy. The best minds that I study assure me that Joy is truly the reason for our existence. I've been collecting quotes on Joy for years. Here's one of my favorites--
You've got to sniff out joy. Follow the joy trail.
~Buffy St. Marie
That one helps me every day. I stop my self and say, Phew, that thought doesn't smell good. Let's sniff over here.
And what about this one?--
Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.
~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Want to see the unmistakable presence of God? Look at the Dalai Lama smile.
Many years ago I had an ongoing correspondence with a General Authority of the LDS Church, Elder Marion D. Hanks, truly one of the greats. In one of my letters I challenged him to use this next quote in his upcoming conference address. He did.
At the judgment day a man will be called to account for all the good things
he might have enjoyed and did not enjoy.
~Jewish Proverb
When I was still in my twenties I wrote a little verse that just now popped into my mind:
LAMENT OF A GROUCH
I knew that in heaven all are happy.
But I wish I'd known the reason before.
Only to the happy
Do they open the door.
What if that's true? What if joy is not a luxury, but a necessity? Friends, I promise to be more devoted to sniffing out the Joy trail. And I ask the same of you.
I too, challenge you to sniff out Joy. Some days... man... you have to sniff harder then others. ;)
1 comment:
Sometimes my sniffer just wants to sniff out the good....chocolate brownies, chocolate pudding, chocolate anything.
The poop smells that I sniff are not so fun.
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