Early Wednesday

It is a little after four o’clock in the morning. I am up because I have a task to do for work. I’m staring at the wrong end of a pile of data entry. The transition to the new company means everyone has to move their patient load to the new data base from our previous data base. I am, of course, behind on this project because reasons.

I am trying not to wake the dog who is happily crated in back. But the coffee pot gurgles like a mad scientist’s laboratory. So, I anticipate having to wrangle Lord Snoot at any moment.

The crickets are loud. A train sounds in the distance. I lit a candle to keep me company.

Today’s Franciscan Nugget: “Day Twenty Eight - The Third Note - Joy - Tertiaries, rejoicing in the Lord always, show in our lives the grace and beauty of divine joy. We remember that we follow the Son of Man, who came eating and drinking, who loved the birds and the flowers, who blessed little children, who was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, and who sat at the tables of both the rich and the poor. We delight in fun and laughter, rejoicing in God's world, its beauty and its living creatures, calling nothing common or unclean. We mix freely with all people, ready to bind up the broken-hearted and to bring joy into the lives of others. We carry within ourselves an inner peace and happiness which others may perceive, even if they do not know its source.”

This kind of Joy is a response to God and not an act of willfulness. It is volitional without being forced. Does that make sense? It cannot be faked or manufactured. But it is a practice. The foundation is prayer, contemplation, and charity. We participate in God’s Joy in all creation. The God who called everything good takes Joy in creation. Our work is to find our way to God’s sense of Joy and not rely upon the vicissitudes of our own lives to bring Joy.

For what it’s worth, data entry does not bring me joy. Ha!

Y’all be excellent to each other.