By Sarah Haug | FāVS News Columnist
The other day it was 32 degrees with freezing fog as my husband and I took our daily loop around our town’s riverwalk. As we often do, we encountered people we knew well and some we didn’t. That day, everyone we passed greeted us with a smile, a few pleasant words, or even laughter. I found myself cheered to see joy in everyone’s faces, even in such miserable conditions.
As we enter the holiday season, joy is officially on the agenda, with many celebrations, parties and festive events. That’s not to say, however, that feeling joy on a fundamental level comes easily. It is even more difficult to sustain joy and share with the world.
In my life, fear is one of the greatest barriers to feeling joy, usually fear of the future. It’s easy to dwell on the bad things that have happened in the past and on all the possible ways another test might be right around the corner.
As the Baha’i writings say, “Fear — for ourselves or for others — [doesn’t] solve any problem or enable us to better meet it if it ever does arise. We do not know what the future holds exactly, or how soon we may all pass through another ordeal worse than the last one.” What a horrifying thought! And yet, how fundamentally true.
I find two thoughts freeing. The first is recognizing and being grateful that a test wasn’t worse. Because, really, when you think about it at 2 in the morning, things could always have been worse. The second is that my thoughts, feelings and actions are the only things over which I have real control. We need not bear imagined future burdens, nor the burdens of others. All of us are in God’s hands. He is the source of true joy and comfort, and it is trust in him that allows us to bear life’s burdens.
Even for those who don’t share a spiritual view of the world, it is fundamentally true that as we go about our daily lives we have a choice as to how we interact with the world. Can we put down its burdens and not carry them at every moment? Can we let our fears pass through us, accepting what we cannot change?
“Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone; let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path.” As we cross paths with people every day — on the riverwalk, in the store, on the street or online — we can spread joy just by a kind word, a smile and lifting our hands in greeting. And in so doing, uplift not only others’ hearts, but our own.
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.
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