pressing on

Renée Antrosio – October 13, 2026 3 Comments

The call to joy- and to rejoice, as Ron reflected last week- is persistent and challenging. We hear the promises, we read the commandments, we know we “should” be joyful… and yet we often struggle. 

In The Book of Joy, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama conclude their week-long birthday celebration and conversation by setting up the “Eight Pillars of Joy” for our contemplation. I returned to those this morning, as I had so quickly forgotten them. The first, which Ron modeled in his recent blogpost, is Perspective: There are Many Different Angles. We can look at our situation in various ways. Social scientists call it reframing. 

“Changing the way we see the world in turn changes the way we feel and the way we act, which changes the world itself.” (p. 218) 

The Bible is full of examples and teaching prompts to see things from a different perspective. God invited Jonah to see the shrub which shaded him and then the worm which killed it and the people and animals of Nineveh from a different perspective. Jesus presented different ways of understanding scripture and seeing the people around us, interpreting the world in a new way. Saul’s perspective changed drastically when he was blinded on the road to Damascus, transforming his vision of himself and his mission. When the frustrations of a situation eclipse the delights of a day and I can’t seem to settle, I (try to remember to) turn to an evening meditation- “Help Me See this Differently,” which can change my perspective so that I can welcome sleep. 

The spiritual practices that undergird joy take, well, practice 🙂 It is not enough for me to read the scriptures about joy, or books about joy, and then go on with my same habits and ways of thinking and acting. Re-training our brains- being transformed by the renewing of our minds- is an ongoing process that we can choose or avoid. I notice that the elders I admire have adopted the practices that bring joy into their everyday lives, so I aspire to follow in their footsteps. The Archbishop and Dalai Lama describe the four pillars of the mind to support joy as:

Perspective
Humility
Humor (laughter, joking is much better)
Acceptance (the only place where change can begin)

They then describe the four pillars of the heart:

Forgiveness: Freeing Ourselves from the Past
Gratitude: I am Fortunate to be Alive
Compassion: Something we Want to Become
Generosity: We are Filled with Joy

Each of these are supported by scripture and science. Each is a discipline and a practice. Some are easier than others, and I have certainly not attained them. And yet I press on. As Paul writes to the church in Philippi:

Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard…. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:1, 12-14 (NIV)

Joy is both the path and the prize. May we be encouraged on our journey by the ones who have gone before us, lighting the way. May we support each other in these practices, that our individual lives and our collective fellowship would be beacons of hope and testimonies of joy to the world.

-Renée