Friday, April 20, 2012

Heaven's Joy

Once when I was studying spiritual disciplines I did some research on the discipline of "joy".  I found a list of movie that explored the discipline of joy and I rented one of the movies on the list.

The movie, "Spit Fire Grill" was about a young girl who had just been released from prison and she showed up at the Spit Fire Grill because she needed a job.  This girl was rough, outspoken, crass, and she boldly loved everyone she met.  It didn't take long for her to change things at the Spit Fire Grill. 

I don't want to give away the whole story, but in the end she helped to make the dream of the Spit Fire Grill come true. 

After the movie was over I was confused and wondered why this movie was classified as 'joyful'. 

It took a while but I finally realized that joy often emerges AS we suffer.  When we break through our suffering (and stop focusing on ourselves) we find the joy of really loving and serving others. 

Before that can happen, we have to let go of our own agendas.  When we do that a miracle happens and we let God take over. 

It's the greatest "space" we can occupy.  That's where heaven steps into our everyday lives!

No comments:

Post a Comment