The Hopes and Fears of All the Years: Day 16

Joy and Fear

“Joy comes not from what we possess, but from knowing whose we are.”
— Desmond Tutu

Text: Luke 2:8-10

Yesterday I mentioned the contrast between joy and fear, and today I want to explore how that looks in practice. Let’s begin here: Joy is expansive, while fear constricts.

When fear is driving the bus, we pull everything close and hold it tightly. Our world gets smaller. Our imagination is stifled. Fear trains us to focus on protection instead of possibility, on survival instead of courage.

Joy does something different.

Joy loosens our grip. It opens our hands. It creates room—for generosity, for growth, for trust. That doesn’t mean our circumstances are always easy or ideal, far from it. Joy, however, is grounded in the truth that there really is enough to go around. The fear of scarcity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, doesn’t it?

This is the kind of joy Advent points toward: It does not deny the problems of the world, but it refuses to let them have the final word. This joy is convicted that a better world is actually possible.

Fear isolates us. Joy draws us toward one another.
Fear builds walls. Joy builds tables.
Fear closes our hearts. Joy expands them.

May we listen to the spacious call of joy, and reject the narrowness of fear, this Advent and always.

Reflection:
What is shaping you?
Where is fear shrinking your world?
Where might joy be challenging you to make room—for God, for others, for hope?