Gladness

Very early today, in a dark and foggy pre-dawn, after dropping some folks off at the bus depot, I spontaneously pulled into the parking lot of a favorite local coffee shop. 

The cozy lighting from within the cafe had beckoned to me as I sat in my car at the red light, and in that moment, when the light turned green, I said, “I’m going for some coffee.”

Once inside, I told the young woman who took my order that I had never been in this coffee shop when it was empty. Being one of the more popular spots in the city, due to its location and aesthetic, by 9 am onward it is nearly impossible to find an open seat to sit. 

So I relished the altered 6:30 am hushed atmosphere—with only what appeared to be a retiree reading and a college student focused on her laptop. 

I chose a table by the window and sat, with scone and coffee. 

And that’s all I did. Sat.

In front of me, halfway across the room, was a tall vertical window framing the outside branches of a tree lined with twinkling clear Christmas lights, and the hanging Edison-style lights of the outdoor courtyard. 

The snow still remaining on the ground glowed white in the dimness of damp morning. 

I sat and thought, “I could be a million miles away, or I could be here. This window scene could be anywhere.”

And here is where I was. And so I sat. Glad. 

I was very glad to be here in this spot: with the window, the lights; the full composition.

And I thought, what a good and Godly gift joy is. 

Joy: germinated by His fruition of single-minded appreciation—absent of critique, pressing issues of the day and all that pollutes joy’s clarity which resides, steadfast, just under the surface of things. 

Even in difficulty—in unavoidable challenging confrontations, in the dissension that often precedes peace—unbiased unconditional joy has been granted to us by Jesus Christ. We enact it by not quenching His Spirit with a hardened heart (1 Thessalonians 5:19; Hebrews 3). 

I remained there, in unquenched Spirit, in the being-ness of Christ—wondering nothing, surmising nothing, fathoming nothing—just glad in the cheer and charm of the moment and the beginning of another day. 

Copyright Barb Harwood

“You have put gladness in my heart.” Psalm 4:7a

“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:11

“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” John 17:13