Ode To Joy

           It has been compounding, this feeling of loss.  Things seem to be spinning around me, sometimes beyond my control.  I keep pressing through, hoping, praying for things to get better.  If only…  But the “if onlys” never come. The feelings of loss and lack of joy get stronger.

            I have found myself reading the Scriptures, searching for that one verse, that one passage that will restore my lost footing.  How long oh Lord?  How long? 

            I came to the conclusion that I have been fighting to “keep my joy”.  Ha!  How arrogant of me!  Keeping one’s “joy” is futile – “it” will be lost.  But Joy can never leave… He may stay  “hidden”, so that the seeking makes the finding even more potent.  So much more the joy when one finds the true Joy-giver. 

            So, today, in my prayers, and in an honest look at myself, I prayed.  “Lord, I am losing my footing.  Help me find that foothold so that I do not slip.  Show me what I need to believe so that I do not fall.” 
            I knew this was about joy.  Not a whole lot to be joyful about lately.  Oh yes, I have much to be thankful for, but the joy that just wells up inside of you – I could not find it.  And I would not manufacture it.

            So, as I sat at the dinner table this evening, my husband played the familiar strains of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony.  I smiled to myself because I recognized it.  It is one of my favorites.  And it always causes me to be in awe as I listen to this masterpiece of music written by a completely deaf man.  How? 

            Then, I remembered, this symphony is also called the “Ode to Joy”.  Joy!  There it was!  If God, the Creator of the universe, can give deaf Beethoven the gift to write this music and express pure and utter joy, He can do many more joyous things in and through me!  The hand hold was found.  God, the Joy-giver of Beethoven, was speaking to me through the language of joy – music and song.  Then, I remembered the words.  The words have changed somewhat over time.  We are all familiar with the hymn that was written almost 100 years after Beethoven’s symphony was completed, “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee”.  But, I will end with part of the poem that Beethoven used for his choral symphony, “Ode To Joy”.

Even the worm can feel contentment,
And the cherub stands before God!

Gladly, like the heavenly bodies
Which He set on their courses
Through the splendor of the firmament;
Thus, brothers, you should run your race,
As a hero going to conquest.

You millions, I embrace you.
This kiss is for all the world!

Brothers, above the starry canopy
There must dwell a loving Father.

Do you fall in worship, you millions?
World, do you know your creator?

Seek him in the heavens;
Above the stars must He dwell.

                                                                                                  ~Your Fellow Sojourner
The part we are all familiar with ... its ok, you can jump for joy.

Listen to this finale and close your eyes!