Saying For Today:Yay! is the timeless finding its way into time.
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
*Proverbs 17.22 (NLT)
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The funeral was beginning all somber, as usual for funerals where I was born and raised. Amid this congregation filled with sad faces, a little voice, and loud, spoke out an exclamation: "Yay!" Seems the toddler disagreed with the seriousness of the occasion and wanted to spread good cheer.
I had come to call these worship meetings a Celebration of Life service, not funeral. I wanted these times to comfort the family and friends, partly by celebrating the life of the loved one.
Clearly, the preacher for this meeting did not have the same view of death as I did. He was not in a "Yea!" mood. Instead, being a fundamentalist Christian, he talked about a hell and how hot it would be. He informed us if anyone present did not accept Jesus as her savior, she would go to that damned place for the damned - according to him.
After the funeral, I reflected on the child's exclamation "Yay!" I realized that was the best message that day and by far the most appropriate.
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Our "Yay!" is not merely an excitement, as though we can remain in an emotional state of elation always. This "Yay!" arises from deeper than all our changing feelings, our feelings being touched by time - all in time changes and eventually ends. We long for the timeless in time, something that is here and now but does not die. "Yay!" is the timeless finding its way into time.
If we live from the withinness where "Yay!" lives untouched by time, even when we do not feel elation, or even gratitude, we will still live in and from the "Yay!" The "Yay!" will live through us and offer itself to the world.
See, this "Yay!" arises from the joy that is even before happiness comes. This "Yay!" is the "Yay!" of bliss. We are born for this joy, this celebration. Yet, too, we have to choose it to enjoy it, though it is our natural estate.
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In 1999, I had completed a Master's in counseling. I had returned to school to leave the pastorate. Then, I was offered an excellent counseling position. At the same time, I did not know if I was prepared to leave the church ministry. Oddly, I felt a renewed interest in pastoral work. I had received spiritual guidance from a former Buddhist and lawyer, who was serving as priest at an Episcopal church. Also, it had a prayer path I had walked over the last months. This day, I entered the labyrinth with a prayer for discernment. Walking slowly the path, looking down at the dirt bounded by rough-hewn stones, a message arose: "Follow your joy." So, I followed the joy. I moved to Florida to spend fifteen years, first in the pastorate, then in chaplaincy. Those words, "Follow your joy" led me into the most fruitful years of my work life.
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So, "Yea!" to "Yea!" And we can always ask ourselves, "Is this a joy?" If not, that may be a sign that one needs to make changes to enjoy joy. And the children can remind us of the natural bliss we are made from and for. We know this joy when we are involved in what helps us transcend ourselves. So, joy and love are closely linked - they are two, but one.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2021
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book is a collection of poems based on mystical traditions, predominantly Christian and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
