Wednesday, June 9

I will be glad and rejoice in you…
—Psalm 9:2

Much in life can bring us joy. Sometimes it is completing a project that challenged our creativity. Or the wonder of nature can suddenly shake us from lethargy and halt our breath. Perhaps it is that moment when we fall in love or remember once again that we are in love with the one who has claimed our heart for years. Or it may be as simple as being given a languorous morning with breakfast in bed. When we feel such joy, our heart fills with gladness as bright as a Christmas parade.

As delightful as such gladness is it is not permanent. Life will always take a turn, times will change, the moment of exaltation will pass, and we will find our emotions tempered by the new circumstances around us. So we turn our thoughts to finding the the next thing that will give us joy on a consistent and constant basis.

We are destined to be disappointed. When, however, we place the deepest longing of our soul into the hands of heaven, we find an unsuspected treasure. The Holy One fills our longing and lavishes us with the untold joy we had been searching for in vain. 

We discover that even when life butts in to try to flatten our full heart, the joy that is found in being in God’s embrace is secure, and our soul can bask in the still and joyful presence of God.

O God, keep me from mistaking the momentary gladness of earth for the eternal joy of heaven.

These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2003.