How Can There Be Any Joy in There?

Two little boys were placed in a room filled with manure. One ran out immediately saying the room was filled with manure. The other stayed…and stayed…and stayed. Finally someone went in to look for him. He stuck his head out of the pile and said, “With all this manure, I’m sure there’s a pony in here somewhere.”

When we look at life, we know that sometimes we’re the pigeon and sometimes we’re the statue. Joy comes easy when we’re soaring, but hard when we’ve been deposited on. We look at the circumstances and all we see is what we wish wasn’t there. Statues rarely feel the Joy.

But the Psalmist wrote: God will accomplish what concerns us. Paul took that idea and said: He who began a good work within us will bring it to fulfillment. He also said: all things work together for the good for those who love God and live within His purpose.

These writers said, in essence, even when you find yourself in a room filled with manure, expect God’s to be in there as well accomplishing His good purpose.

Anticipation of God’s good releases Joy. I don’t have to have everything shoveled out, the room power washed and Fabreezed in order to find Joy. It’s there in the stink of the mess.

When we insist God resolve everything before we can give thanks or acknowledge His goodness, we separate ourselves from our Joy.  In fact, our Joy will be held hostage to our own unwillingness to trust Him.

It is essential that we will believe He is there even when we can’t see Him. That He is active in our lives even when we can’t feel Him. And that He is working this together for good even when we are convinced otherwise.

Question: which little boy are you in the story at the beginning?

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