Unclutter Your Soul: A 7-Day DevotionalSample

Grow In Peace And Joy

It was an ordinary afternoon, and I was cooking an ordinary dinner (spaghetti or tacos, anyone?). To break the monotony, I popped in my AirPods and tuned into a podcast. I have no idea whose podcast I was listening to or what the topic was. All I recall is that the guest was an author and she was telling a story about deleting all her emails. She was going through a personal crisis and concluded that she didn’t need to respond to all these people, all these requests—she no longer wanted them in her space, in her circle. Delete. I thought of all the emails that had been in my inbox for months. Delete sounded so freeing. She then began talking about drawing circles and likening them to boundaries.

My ears perked up. My boundaries were drawn with invisible ink, and they were always linear. “This is the line; you cannot cross it!” But she was talking circles. Her boundaries were not focused on who or what she kept out, like a wall (linear). Rather the purpose they served was to create a sacred space for who and what she wanted in her circle. “A boundary is a golden circle that you draw around the things that matter to you,” according to her.

I decided I needed to draw some circles of my own. I needed to clarify what is and is not allowed in my sacred space.

There is this thing about circles: we can create peace and joy within them.

Each day can feel like a circle. Dawn to dusk. Dusk to dawn. A circle that we are always tempted to step out of—into tomorrow, back to yesterday. Yet here we are today.

Today is where life is lived. Today is where growth and change happens. Today is where love is given and received. Today is where we overcome.

Today is your life.

Do you ever feel like this is practice? That you are always preparing or waiting? Or, maybe, you feel like you are just pretending—like it’s some sort of movie we are all living in?

This is the real deal. The ins and outs and the boring, ordinary every day is where life is being lived; it’s where joy can be found.

I used to believe that peace and joy could only be experienced when all was well and figured out and orderly. I viewed peace and joy as a prized state of mind, a trophy for those that toiled for them. Peace and joy seemed to be a destination that I was always trying to get to—to journey toward. In “today,” peace and joy were always just out of reach. And I wasn’t wrong about that—because I was always looking to tomorrow.

Peace and joy can only be experienced in today.

By some definitions joy can be described as a feeling, and it’s often interchanged with happiness. But the important distinction to note is this: joy isn’t dependent upon circumstances—this sets joy apart from happiness. Naturally, it’s difficult to be happy when things are not going well. However, joy can be experienced in even the darkest of times. Joy isn’t dependent on the goodness of our day or life. Joy is determined by the goodness of God. And the great news is that joy is not something that we wait to obtain on the other side of pain or difficulty. The joy of the Lord is our very strength (Nehemiah 8:10) in pain and difficulty.

Because joy materializes in moments, its expression is often ephemeral. Somehow, simultaneously, we experience it as tangible and fleeting. But make no mistake: there is no issue of supply and demand. Joy is ever available—even in our longing and our waiting. My greatest shift in experiencing joy came when I decided to participate in my life. Waiting, although taxing and horribly annoying, limits no one from participation. We only limit ourselves.

Remember, to participate is to come alive to our lives. And feeling alive feels a lot like joy.

Don’t be tempted to step out of the circle of today, believing that joy only makes its home in distant memories or the faraway futures. Joy comes in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Joy can be at home in you today.

Respond

Have you found the peace and joy that comes from knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior?

If no, who in your circle can you talk to about Jesus?

If yes, who in your life needs to know about the saving grace of Jesus?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for loving me, saving me, and providing eternal peace and joy.