Remember Joy

I am usually late to the party on trends and new media. I don’t often watch the news, keep up with politics, or check best seller lists. It’s not that I don’t care, but I am prone to let those become a time vacuum, which takes away from the things that are most important to me. Knowing that, it makes perfect sense that I didn’t know about the book, The Road Back To You, until 3 years after it was published. I heard the author, Ian Morgan Cron, speak one time about the enneagram. That combined with my love of personality tests had me analyzing my family within minutes. If you love this kind of thing too, I highly recommend checking out Ian and his books or podcast called Typology My husband, Bryce, was clearly a 4, the romantic on this scale - unconventional, emotionally driven, and creatively expressive. Funny part, so is Ian.

Bryce’s Poetry Books

We have books of poetry around our house written by the pen held in my husband’s hand. In fact one of the ways that he wooed me into loving him was through the poetry and songs he wrote for me. Most of those, I’ll never share. Those are ours alone. But I asked him to write and share with us one poem, not written for me, that gives us all great perspective for the time in which we are living.

Guest Blog Post by Bryce Alan Flurie

There’s power in brevity. We’ve heard about “The Strong Silent Type” or “A Man Of Few Words.” These were qualities of leading men on movie screens for generations. The mystery of figuring out what Clint Eastwood was thinking about as he squinted into the plains. John Wayne’s Rooster Cogburn in True Grit simply saying, “I do not know this man.” To the point. True to his word.

I’ve always respected men like this, but truth be told I’m just not wired this way. If we’re talking movie characters I’m closer to Everett Ulysses McGill from O Brother Where Art Thou. “Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?” I love words and  well told stories. Listening to them and telling them. I love the beauty and power of words and revel in conversations with good friends late into the night. 

But when it comes to poems and songs I prefer brevity. Beauty in clarity. Making every word count. I’ve taken every creative writing class I could and was a songwriting major in college so I’ve studied the art form for over thirty years. I was always impressed by songwriters like Bob Dylan who could craft verse after verse of narrative for these long convoluted songs, but I don’t think I’ve ever written anything longer than four verses. William Blake could fill pages and pages of beautiful transcendent verse. Not me. An extreme example is this poem I wrote twenty years ago which whittles it down about as far as it can go. 

Remember:

Joy

As someone who has struggled with deep bouts of melancholy throughout the years I wrote this simple poem to remind myself that, as the Bible says, “...our joy may be full.” Another translation says “that our joy may be complete.” Sign me up. I need this poem when I’m slogging through my personal Slough Of Despond like in Pilgrim’s Progress. Simple, powerful reminders like this speak volumes without filling volumes. 

If you know me, you know I find great beauty in hymns. One of my favorites is Henry Van Dyke’s poem from 1907 set to Beethoven’s Ode To Joy. It is an artfully crafted prayer to our Creator to erase our melancholy, sadness, and doubt:

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee
God of glory, Lord of love
Hearts unfold like flow'rs before Thee
Op'ning to the Sun above
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
drive the dark of doubt away
Giver of immortal gladness
fill us with the light of day

It’s a difficult time we are living in right now. Depression is spiking around the world with everyone being disconnected from each other. Even introverts who weathered the first few months of this are wearing thin with the lack of human interaction. Hopefully great art like this classic poem can give us not only comfort, but also help us remember the joy we can find in our Creator at this time. 

All Thy works with joy surround Thee
Earth and heav'n reflect Thy rays
Stars and angels sing around Thee
center of unbroken praise
Field and forest, vale and mountain
Flow'ry meadow, flashing sea
chanting bird and flowing fountain
call us to rejoice in Thee

I don’t know about you but I’m going to walk out in my backyard to see the fields and woods, listen to the chanting birds and the flowing stream. Then I’m going to remember to rejoice in the One who made it all. Hopefully you can as well. And also -

Remember:

Joy

Bryce wrote the poem as a reminder of God’s story and the joy that we find in Him. This poem is very much a part of Bryce’s story and who he is. I love my Enneagram 4’s. In the midst of their melancholy and creative expression, they bring so much beauty and joy into the world. 

But they aren’t the only ones. Each of us can impact the world through who we are. When we pursue truth and lean into God, our story is able to make the world a better place. We all get that chance, but it creates a special challenge for the sandwich generation. We give our time to love and care for our parents while we guide our own children to help them understand the world as God created it and works within it. We must carefully balance giving to those around us without losing ourselves. God intends to use our story. No matter what your life stage is, may you find the time to remember joy. 

Searching for wisdom and asking for grace,

Jody