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Joy. Unspeakable Joy.

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Joy. Unspeakable Joy. I don’t know why that song popped into my head for this, the third week of Advent. I’m not even going to look it up for you. If you know it, you know it. Anyway, it’s been a good week. A good week filled with good things. And so it won’t be hard to chat about Joy.

We had the privilege of lighting the Advent candle at our new church this week. True to form, the hubby ad-libbed a little bit. And me? Well, I got a little over zealous and lit four candles instead of three. Oops! Why isn’t joy the fourth week just before Christmas anyway? Love can come before Joy and after Hope and Peace. In fact, I think it should come after Love. You love something or someone and then the joy comes, right? Do you choose that feeling or is it a result of loving? Hmmn. That’s a thought for reflection.

For example, when our little grand baby was born we loved him before we met him. His extended family anticipated with Hope his impending arrival… But the Joy when he arrived… that was different. Perhaps Mary felt the same. She knew her baby was something special. She knew He was going to do great things. But to feel the joy deep down in her heart? I think that only came when she got to meet Him face to face.

In fact, I think that is still true: I don’t think anyone who ever experienced Jesus face to face was ever the same. Good or bad, coming face to face with God will forever change you. In 2024, we don’t have the chance to meet Jesus face to face, on this side of Heaven, but encounters with God are no less powerful. Experiences give us a concrete foundation for the actions that are the result of those experiences. It’s one thing to say “I know how you feel, I will pray”. It’s another thing to say “I’ve been there… I got you”.

Joy. Unspeakable joy. I’m trying to think of how to share or describe it. They say Joy is one of those emotions that is beyond happiness. A feeling that has supernatural roots. You can feel joy despite the human experience…. It is “unspeakable” in a way. You must experience it to understand it. And when you do, you think to yourself, yup, that was a God thing because I could not have done that by myself.

The kids tease me because most weeks I end up crying at church. A worship song hits just so – and tears come. I’m not even a big crier. It’s also been known to happen during a proud moment when I watch my kids perform. A race. A school play. An overwhelming emotion that spills out through my eyelids. Am I alone? I know I am not… I have seen some of you. You gushing emotional wrecks you!

Joy. Unspeakable Joy. In past years, mittonmusings has asked you what brings you joy? I’ve posted photographs. It’s a tough one to write about. Perhaps we all feel it differently. Perhaps that’s why it’s such a deep and indescribable emotion. In the popular movie Inside Out, Joy and Sadness have to work together. Like light and darkness, to experience and understand one, you need to experience and understand the opposite. And then you can truly help another – because you’ve been there.

And so, my friends, time is passing quickly. Perhaps, like me, you were a little zealous and lit one too many candles this week and are now burning them at both ends. It’s crunch time, single digits before Christmas and there is still a lot to do. I wish you peace, hope and now joy. Unspeakable Joy that you must take time to truly experience to understand. May your sadness make your joy complete. And then together, we’ll come back to celebrate Love! Blessings, my readers!

Advent Reflections: Peace in the Midst of Life’s Messiness

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Welcome to week two of Advent: Peace. Except today’s post will most likely be later than normal, because this week at Itsnotta Farm, was anything but peaceful! We are on day four off school due to weather issues: had our first major snowfall, freezing rain and now fog! Winter has arrived. Then we had a bunny escape. The snow created a little gap that kept the door of the rabbit run from closing completely. I thought it was small enough, but little Pineapple squeezed out and (luckily) was hiding in the woodpile. I must give credit to the hubby, who not only found him, but was quick enough to capture him again, too. (Now, don’t say I don’t acknowledge the fine efforts of my begrudging farm help!) This was all before we had to turn back from a birthday dinner due to snowy highways. I guess it didn’t matter that we were already late at that point. Then came the freezing rain and now soggy fields. The rabbits and chickens are miserable and restricted to small spaces to avoid muddy feet.

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The Chickens don’t like getting their feet wet…

The most exciting event that has taken up my time, though, and certainly disrupted the peace, was the early arrival of our first grandson! He came sooner than expected, but a welcome disruption to our weekend plans! I was able to witness his birth and give kudos to his brave mom who delivered the 8lb 4oz bundle of joy in a super quick and drug free labour! Luckily, the weather was great at 3 o’clock in the morning and so was the traffic. We are beyond proud of our new addition and the crew that loves him. Alas, as the youngest auntie recently said: “There is no peace without first experiencing chaos”. Chaos indeed.

But let’s muse for a moment on the opposite, which is supposed to be the theme of our week. Peace. What does it conjure up for your mind’s eye? White doves and silent gunfire? United nations talks? Hot cocoas and roaring fires? A good book and a cozy blanket? Sunlit summers on the beach? This week, I captured a little video of tiny songbirds flitting to and from our bird feeder. They come when the snow piles up. (I’ll post the video on my socials later for you.) As I watched them for a little while through the window with my morning coffee, a gentle peace filled my soul and I took a moment to thank God for my many blessings. And then our grand baby made one more for the list!

Perfect little toes of our new Grand baby!

I’m sure your blessings list is as long as mine, and so, I remind you to take a minute to be thankful for it. Step back for a moment and see the bigger picture of Christmas. Reflect on its beauty and the quiet moments. Even in the chaos. These days of commercialism and black Friday sales has me often wondering why am I buying more gifts for people who already have so much? I get overwhelmed with “too much stuff” and yet, I feel I must get “something” for this or that occasion. That’s a topic for another day, though.

Back to Peace. I’ve reflected several times on Mary as a main character in the Christmas story, and our new baby had me thinking about her again this week. Can you imagine an inexperienced teenager giving birth to a baby after travelling all night? And to do it in a stinky feed shed out back in the cold and dark with some guy she doesn’t really know yet? I wonder if chickens were there to peck curiously at, ummm, “birthing stuff”. Sorry, maybe that was a little graphic, but after living on a semi-farm, I know that animals stink, and bringing life into the world is messy and brutally raw and real and anything but the peaceful Christmas card scenes we see in the pretty boxes doused in glitter.

Life is messy. As much as I’d like to have my days scheduled and planned and filled with productive work, something often gets in the way. I don’t like to be spontaneous, and I am not good at “dropping everything” to go visit a sick friend or tend to a need that arises. My extrovert hubby says I need to work on that. Perhaps. Maybe that’s why Peace is a part of the preparation, or advent, period. A fruit of the Spirit to focus on during the craziness that has become December. A symbolic candle lit for a brief moment of reflection to muse on “shalom”. A deeper meaning than just the absence of conflict, but rather a wholeness or completeness. It’s a feeling that only God can give. A peace that passes understanding. One that goes beyond, or perhaps, in the middle of, our circumstances. It’s taking the moment – in the middle of the moment – because you have the well being, or “shalom” enough to do it. And that feeling wasn’t generated by you, it was given to you.

An Unlikely “clean” Nativity scene…that rooster would wake the baby who was probably just sneezed on by the cow!

Mary had it in the middle of her “silent night” when a bunch of sheep and burly shepherds with bad B.O. showed up to worship her newborn wrapped up in swaddling clothes who was lying in a manger. A manger likely covered in cow saliva and a chicken dropping or two. Daniel had it in the middle of a lion’s den smelling the breath of giant cats who wished to make him their next meal. Abraham had it as he bound his son and prepared to offer him as a sacrifice, even though Issac was given to him as his promised miracle baby. Esther had it as she went before a fickle king to save her people from mass destruction. And she was “just a pretty face”.

Beloved, God gives it to you and I as well! Jesus said: ” Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27 NKJV) Even in the middle of Christmas chaos. Even when life is messy. Hope. And now Peace. Join us next week for another round of advent reflections! Or sign up for a weekly email so you never miss a blog post, because, well, sometimes I need to drop my plan and fill a different need…

Unspeakable Joy

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Welcome back, my beloveds, to the last week of Advent and the countdown to Christmas! We are so unprepared! Nevertheless, time will go on and Christmas will come and go – whether I am prepared or not. Hopefully, this little post will help us all get in the mood. Thought I’d share about the final theme of Advent for this week: Joy. Our youngest experienced the joy of her first snow day today. A new experience for us… buses cancelled and therefore no one shows up to school? What’s with that?! I’m not complaining though… it means I don’t have to drive in it. Bonus. 

(and so has the snow !!)

This is not the first time I’ve mused about Joy. It’s a recurring theme on mittonmusings.com. If you are interested, go back and check these posts out. They’ll make you smile:

Unspeakable joy. It’s one of the lyrics in the adapted Joy to the World hymn that’s circulating around this time of year. I wonder, though, what does it mean? Unspeakable joy. Usually when you experience “joy” you wanna chat about it, no? Shout: ”Snow day! No school! Hurray!” Tell the world about your experience? Spread the news? Does unspeakable mean indescribable? So dumbfounded that you can’t speak about it? Or awe? Like the marvel at something that just takes your words away. I’m thinking it must be like that.

I’m also guessing it takes a little bit of discipline to see those things around you that bring that unspeakable joy. I’m imagining a new mom… hectic chaos in the midst of bottles, burps and bathing. It’s not until that early morning feeding when the quiet allows you to take a moment, when no one else is around, to marvel at your baby’s tiny features. So perfectly designed. The softness of their delicate skin, and the sweet smell of sour milk and baby powder. If you know, you know. I wonder if Mary had that moment with baby Jesus. I’m sure she did. In fact, I am sure she had it a few times. 

I’m learning to discover it more and more as I take the time to slow down and practice seeing those little things in the world around me. Tiny footprints in the snow. The flame of a warm fire as it dances. It’s dangerous. Fire consumes. Yet, if you take the time to quietly observe things, you will see the beauty in it. That’s when that marvel comes in to play. That’s when you begin to get that awestruck “joy” that there is Someone so much bigger than you who has mastered the tiny intricacies of life as we know it. And that Someone has set them in to place so that this big wide world goes ’round with the exact precision it needs to be set at. Amazing.

We had a unique experience this past week when we were decorating our front porch. We discovered a dead pigeon on the lawn. Now before you scroll away, hear me out. We don’t know what happened. There was one tiny blood streak. A hawk maybe. Or a cat? We don’t get a lot of pigeons, so I think it was dropped in from elsewhere. And I don’t want to glorify death, but there was something beautiful about this bird. Each feather layered in a silky, smooth collection. Some feathers glistening in green and purple iridescence. A striking contrast to the grey and white body feathers. Each wing stretched out to reveal strong flight feathers. Yet so light as to carry this creature on the wind. It hit me with that awe and wonder for a moment. I was able to somehow experience the joy in death. It allowed me to observe a creature I would otherwise not have been able to examine so closely had it been alive. Do you get it? I hope you see it through my words.

Beauty in the everyday. Photo via Popular Science

And it’s the wish I have for you, my friend, as you go into this holiday season. I wish you the chance to experience “unspeakable joy” this Christmas. To practice seeing the beauty – even in some not so beautiful experiences. Perhaps, like many, the holiday season is not an easy one for you. It is not the “happy” season everyone talks about. Joy is different. It goes beyond the happy to a deeper, somehow indescribable and unspeakable emotion of awe in the essence of Christmas. The emotion behind the truth that the Creator of the entire world came to the earth as a tiny, helpless babe. Do you feel it? I wish it for you, my beloved. Joy, unspeakable Joy, to the world!!