Joy for what is and is to come

NCF Office – February 24, 2026 4 Comments

This week we hear from Sharon Chubbuck, a long time NCF’er, about the many forms joy takes and the lessons we can learn from each. May you be encouraged to embrace the many opportunities for joy before you and find joy in the hope of all that is to come! –Melissa Logsdon, NCF Associate Pastor

My son Christopher and his wife Shea are avid outdoor people who thoroughly enjoy the gorgeous beauty of western Colorado, mountain biking, running, hiking, and exploring. A few months ago, Chris told me about an experience he had in the mountains.  He had stopped on a trail, admiring the beauty around him, when all at once a huge golden eagle dove right in front of him.  As he pulled out his camera (of course!), another golden eagle joined the first, and together they began swooping and chasing and circling together in a dance that took Chris’ breath away. He said they seemed to glance back at him, as if to say, “This is our dance, our celebration, but you can watch if you want to.”  He said it felt like a spiritual moment.  

A couple of weeks ago, I taught on the challenging verse in James 1: “Count it all joy when you encounter trials,” about how each trial and struggle we meet gives us one more chance to trust God, to say yes to God again. I’ve been thinking about the word “joy” ever since.  If James is right, joy certainly is different from “happiness.”  The Greek word used in the New Testament is “chara”—a deep, calm, spiritual gladness that is dependent on God’s grace. In fact, “chara” and “charis” –grace—come from the same word. Watching two golden eagles dance together is a delightful joy, full of gratitude for creation, but it is also a taste of something more beautiful and lovely that we long for. It is a glimpse into God’s gracious promise that what we see now isn’t all that is or all that will be.  

We also find joy in bringing a bit of life into a world in desperate need of healing and life. It is a determined joy to keep on obeying God’s voice to be a light to the world, even when we’re tired and out of breath, because we know what we do matters. Giving light to others brightens our path as well as theirs, even if the darkness isn’t entirely dispelled. Like the eagles’ dance, being God’s agents of change in the world gives a quiet joy and it opens our eyes to something more, to the full goodness that our world so sorely lacks. The determined joy of obeying God is one with a longing ache for God’s promise that what we see now isn’t all that is or all that will be.      

And when we face the worst life can bring, in the moment of our deepest despair, there is an agonized joy that says yes to trusting God even then. Clearly, we prefer the first two types of joy—delightful and determined—but moments of agony are the inevitable experience of all humanity. Choosing to trust God’s presence, goodness, and promises in those moments can produce a deep spiritual calm and strength. Even more, those moments point us to the complete, perfect life we long for, where tears are wiped away and death is no more. Trusting God in agonized joy joins us to God’s promise that what we see now isn’t all that is or all that will be.  

Joy—delightful, determined, or agonized—grounds us in the moments of our lives, but its value extends beyond that grace. C.S. Lewis said that “all joy reminds” us of what we most long for and pulls us toward the future God is creating.   

I personally know this takes a lifetime to learn.  Probably more.  But we are on the road together, alive in the moment and pulled towards what is to come. It reminds me of the words in Jim Croegaert song, “The light that falls to the earth is such a small part, such a very small part of the light that is….The love we see when we see is such a small part, such a very small part of the love that is.”  –Sharon Chubbuck