JOY-FULL-NESS: Discovering Joy in Digestion and Ditty’s

There are things that stay with you you’d rather forget. There are things you’d rather remember that you forget. Then there are things you recall leaving you wonder why on earth you have.

Popping up somewhere from my lurking, murky, otherwise heavily armoured subconscious, is a kitsch, highly cringeworthy, Sunday school song falling into the category of memories we’d rather forget, but somehow seem to want to stick around.

“I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy
Down in my heart (where?)
Down in my heart (where?)
Down in my heart
I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy
Down in my heart (where?)
Down in my heart to stay”

Looking back, there’s a conjuring of young children scratching about under armpits, and inspecting belly buttons, searching eagerly for the ‘joy down in their heart’. Like, what does that even mean? Call it blind Calvinistic indoctrination or perhaps some lyricist’s oversimplified, clinquant attempt at confirming a global truth. I don’t recall if joy was ever allocated any descriptive adjectives or qualitative constructs, to aid us in our search, but somehow perhaps this inferred notion of joy, this feeling of pleasure and happiness, was an adequate pedagogical reference, manifesting itself into my juvenile, now adult psyche.

To move from Calvinism into the modern age of Evangelical exuberance, would mean that apart from rejigging the old jingle into a Hillsong chart topper, joy would need to shift from a personalised, modestly pious, self -contained experience, to an enlightened, effervescent, euphoria; a gaping chasm many of us would lack the confidence to jump, the ability to sustain, or authentically digest.

So how to move from a joy detox, to a joy smorgasbord without indigestion and other common aggravated bowel experiences associated with charismatic overindulgence? A menu of ‘take -away’ joy, offers a more measured, but short lived, often artificial, and remorseful experience. 5:2 eating plans require regular periodical abstinence and denial of all joy on some days – hardly a balanced approach. Juicing joy would be nourishing and healthy but short on long term oxytocins. While Paleo joy, may just involve the slaughter of innocent animals, a joyous oxymoron for many. Tapas options of appetizers or snacks, easily combinable to a moveable feast, seem to epitomise a well measured joy-full-ness. A culinary snapshot of what’s on offer, a taste of more to come, exploration of the exquisite, and satisfaction in the immediate. A wide arcing taste test of all things delicious, small, savoured, and shared, reminding us that, “Very little is needed to make a happy life” (Marcus Aurelius).

But joy isn’t always delivered on a plate or an easy recipe to follow. ‘Down in my heart’, may just require some serious excavating.  As with any archaeological undertaking, success comes from:

Awareness: Open your eyes and heart… treasure is everywhere.
Appreciation: Celebrate the small stuff, (apparently even broken bits of ancient pottery, and toenails).
Assiduity: Stick at it. Joy always shows up.
Action: Remember the tapas… Taste, savour, share.

“Find out where joy resides and give it a voice far beyond signing. For to miss the joy is to miss all” (Robert Louis Stevenson). So perhaps cringeworthy, childhood ditty’s, are in fact the initial impetus for the revelation of a greater whole. A scratch and sniff sentiment for the brave uncovering of, and abiding in, thankfulness. A juvenile reminder that “Joy is the echoing of God’s life within us” (Joseph Marmion). Be sure to grab a bite!