One Word
This winter on The Daily Pattern we’re in a series called One Word. Each day we take one word – a feeling or circumstance – and bring a word from God to it. Let the Word of God speak to your life.
Invocation
Make the sign of the cross, and say,
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation Prayer
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5) O Lord, I am lowly and humble. You alone are my inheritance. Amen.
Word: John 16:22-24
…“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Meditation
Joy by Megan Roegner
My husband and I have three children, ages twelve, seven, and three. Because our kids are so spread out in age, we’ve been parenting a child under the age of five for more than twelve years now. Parenting is a feat of endurance. I can remember us talking about happiness when our third was a newborn and we were both bleary-eyed with exhaustion because of restless nights and days filled with endless activity. Were we happy? We weren’t sure. Life wasn’t necessarily pleasurable at the moment, but we also derived a great deal of satisfaction from our children, our work, our marriage, and all of our other various responsibilities.
It wasn’t until I was introduced to the concept of eudaimonia that I discovered a word for what we were feeling. There are two words from ancient Greek that get translated into “happiness” in English: hedonia and eudaimonia. Hedonia results from pleasure and fun. Eudaimonia, on the other hand, is a state of being that results from living a purposeful life. Aristotle wrote about eudaimonia extensively in the Nicomachean Ethics, describing it as “an activity of the soul in accordance with perfect virtue.” Eudaimonia is, according to Aristotle, “the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
I realized that in many moments of my life, hedonia may be lacking, but eudaimonia is plentiful. I also realized that understanding eudaimonia gave me new insight into another, more familiar word—joy.
In the ESV translation of the Bible there are two instances of the word “happiness” and eight of the word “happy.” On the other hand, variations of “joy” appear 203 times. Throughout the references to joy in the Bible, we can learn that it is something that comes from God, and we feel it when we are living according to his will. It is not a fleeting moment of pleasure that comes from our circumstances but rather deeper and more sustaining. It is an activity of the soul.
C.S. Lewis, who spent much of his life trying to understand and experience joy, wrote that “Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.” It can be scary to reach for something that isn’t within our own power to grasp. But, as Lewis also wrote, “No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock, it is opened.”
Father, help us live joyfully. Thank you for the strength, comfort, and delight that you give us in all kinds of circumstances. Amen.
Prayer for Family
· For my immediate family (parents, spouse, siblings).
· For extended family (cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents)
· For close friends that are as family to me.
· For those who don’t have families, or whose families are broken.
· For forgiveness and reconciliation where there is division in my family.
· For provision where there is need in my family.
· For God to be the foundation, and the cross the center of my family.
· For a generation yet unborn, future members of our family.
Closing Prayer
O Lord and King, your Kingdom comes even without our prayer. But we pray that it would also come among us. We are desperate for your reign and rule, for all we see is rebellion. Come into my heart, my home, my family, my work, my church, my community. Rule with justice and with mercy. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.