Spring Break Musings - Seek Joy, not Comfort

It's spring break for CNU, so I did not go to the prayer station this week.  The prior two weeks were so busy that I've had little time for writing blog posts.  Both Thursdays were bitterly cold and windy, as I sat inside the DSU rotunda gazing out the windows onto the Plaza and longing for spring.  One of the days I shared the rotunda with other groups so I was positioned to look through the glass doors to the magnolia just beyond the Plaza.  With blue sky in the background, and sun lighting up the evergreen leaves, I could imagine that it was warm outside.  It was only an illusion, though, as I huddled under my soft knitted prayer shawl and felt the wind's cold breath each time the door's stayed open.  On one of the days a student stood and held the door open for what seemed like 10 minutes, until every last person in sight had gone in or out.  I have to admit to thinking unkind thoughts of her as I shivered and my ears turned ice cold.

On that same chilly Thursday, I had a great conversation with a student.  He told me that he was learning that experiencing joy did not necessarily mean being comfortable.  Such wisdom for someone so young.  Joy and comfort are not at all the same thing, are they?

When I was in seminary I did my field work at St. Elisabeth's in Glencoe, IL.  My supervising priest, Daphne, used "seekjoy" as the first part of her email address.  I used to smile as I typed her address into the "To" portion of an email.  What a great reminder - seek joy.  I wonder if part of the challenge of our society is that we're seeking comfort and not joy.  I don't mean the comfort that we seek when we're grieving or struggling and we long for God's peace or a kind word from our loved ones.  I mean the comfort of ease, the comfort of complacency, the comfort of numbing ourselves so that we don't have to witness the pain of others or feel our own pain.

The student I spoke with was realizing that doing God's work brings joy but often takes us to places of discomfort or calls us out of our comfort zones.  Yes, oh yes.  And at the same time it's so easy to slip back into the comfort and ignore the call.  Sometimes it means standing up and speaking out, especially against injustice.  Sometimes it means sitting down and listening, especially to voices that don't share our privilege.  It means sitting with our own discomfort when we're told we don't know everything and we can't fix everything.  I find it so hard to sit in the in between, to listen when I want to act, to stand up when it's going to cost, and yet, there is joy to be found in all those occasions.

There's is probably much more to be said on this topic, but I hear my taxes crying out to be finished.  I hope that the student I spoke with will continue to seek joy and not stay comfortable.  I hope I will too.