Your Deep Joy

Yesterday was my last day at my job. Although for the past two years I've had an outstanding supervisor, and numerous co-workers I've warmly treasured, today I start a new life. 

Well, really, we don't have to wait until the next day to start anew. With each hour, in each minute, in a second, we can choose to make a change. 

Constantly re-evaluating, often I've pondered where I've been, who I've been, and who I've wanted to be. Repeatedly considering whether I have been called to shift, to adjust, to pivot, I feel has been one of the lessons of my life. 

We don't have to keep doing what we're doing. Especially if we feel unfulfilled, or if we're concerned that we're compromising our principles, or not being our truest, best selves, then we should seriously discern whether we are called to make changes. 

We are called to feel fulfilled. Often I have recalled the guidance of Frederich Buechner that "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." 

For me, I have felt overflowing joy while living a life of simple service while serving those in dire need while living in spiritual community. It's in this context, of these insights from my past experiences, that I left my job, and next week I will be driving to St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, to begin the Master's of Divinity graduate degree program there.  

With the M.Div. degree, graduates serve as hospital chaplains, prison chaplains, high school campus ministers, college campus ministers, and high school teachers. I feel drawn to serve in these ways, since so often I have felt abundant joy while serving in similar contexts. 

Joy derived while serving others serves a signpost that we are on the road to profound fulfillment. This joy can manifest in innumerable ways. 

I imagine that someone can be a cook or a baker whose talents manifest when expressing their creativity, care, and concern by making confections or other culinary creations with love. Such people can radiate such joy, that they shine so much that they light the way for others. 

Or perhaps someone is a custodian with low self-esteem, maybe who needs repeated encouragement, who has latent leadership skills, which, when properly nourished and mentored, will serve as an inspiring team leader who lift others up and be a sustaining source of strength for others. 

So, to feel this joy in serving others, maybe we need to make a change for ourselves. Perhaps we have to realize how we can help others change and grow into who they have been meant to be, and in doing so, we may feel great joy upon nurturing others. However it manifests, the joy we feel when serving others in need is a clear sign that we are becoming our best selves. To make the shift to become our truest selves, with the joy that guides us to that point, is a change well worth making.