We are here for joy.

“Our relationship to joy is directly connected to our willingness to be vulnerable enough to welcome it in, especially in the often tense moments before a breakthrough.”

This month brought me face to face with my relationship to joy. While holding space for a desire I’d called in, I found myself at a decision point: How will I spend my time during the wait? Holding on [to fear and worry], or letting go?

You see, we are here for joy. But, more importantly, joy is here for us.

And I’m not talking about the conventional, graduation day or birthday joy. I’m talking about the underlying, everyday joy we often miss because we’re so steeped in the work. In fact, some simply define joy as a sense of wellbeing.

Our relationship to joy is directly connected to our willingness to be vulnerable enough to welcome it in, especially in the often tense moments before a breakthrough.

This may look like holding space for joy alongside prolonged calls for patience. This may look like holding space for joy while saying no to things that, though tempting, do not represent the highest expression of what you’ve called in. This may look like believing in what you can’t yet see and trusting Spirit to bring what’s yours into form. It’s a muscle we get to recondition after becoming disconnected from our joy over time.

In this stage of reconditioning, I learned that the joy was never about the achievement of the thing I’d called in. Rather, the joy was in the gift of my expanded capacity for faith. The joy was in gaining yet another example of what happens when we hold the pose. The joy was in remembering that I can allow joy to flow in the midst of the waiting, knowing that all things are divinely timed, and that all is well.

So, in moments when joy seems to elude you, look within for a deeper knowing that joy is always available. And know that you are worthy of the joy.

When we remember that we are never alone as we navigate our way to it, we realize it is safe to even expect the joy. It is safe to be that brave. Now that is worth celebrating.