How to Learn Acceptance with Joy
He was six years old that summer.
Red hair and freckles that danced across his nose. He was so good most of the time, rarely in need of correction. But that day he was on the edge, tight-rope walking the thin line of obedience.
When he fell from the line and stood before me, defiance overpowering, I sighed. “Do you have to fight?” I asked. “Can you just accept that there are boundaries you can’t cross?”
“I don’t like them,” he told me. “I don’t know why they’re needed. I’m old enough to take care of myself.”
Of course, at six he was old enough to run, jump, laugh, learn responsibility… but he was not old enough to establish his own boundaries. He wasn’t old enough to see everything else that was happening around him. He needed his parents to direct him, and when they weren’t available, he needed me, his babysitter.
How easy it is to see in a child. His defiance, the gripping to “his-will,” was robbing him of safety, stealing good things from his life.
How I longed to just wrap him tight and whisper, “Please, please, learn to accept-with-joy the things I give you. Even if they seem bad, trust me. Trust that I can see far more than you can right now.”
How easy it is to see in a child and how hard it is to see in me. When my two-handed grip to my-desires and my-will rob me of safety, stealing the good things from my life.
It turns out that I can’t see as far as I think. It turns out that I need to keep my heart in surrender to the One-Who-Sees-All-Things. The One who will lead and guide me, pulling me onward, and upward.
God has asked me to accept-with-joy that my body can’t bear children.
That my hopes need to be laid down at His feet and His-will must be glorified over my own.
And at one point, I thought “accepting-with-joy” meant “accepting-with-happiness” and Oh, how impossible that is. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t do it. Morning after morning I would wake up and say, “Today I’ll be happy. I’ll accept what God gives.” And morning after morning I would fail. My-will would rise up and my-desires would wage war and my flesh would rule. Happiness can’t stand in the face of crushed dreams.
But joy is different. It’s a choice.
And I’ll be honest: I’m not good at making it. I’m not good at choosing joy when my throat is crusty and dry from my years in the desert.
So I asked Him. I went right to His feet and I said, “God, how am I suppose to accept-with-joy when I’m barely surviving?”
The next morning I woke up and our hot water heater died. Dead. It was the middle of winter, when our finances are the tightest, and the only thing that came out of our faucets was an icy blast.
I was kneeling by the tub, washing my hair, my hands beet-red and numb, when I heard His answer.
“Accept this with joy.”
It wasn’t a lifetime of infertility that I was looking at. It was just a season without hot water. I could do that.
So I chose joy and searched out the beauty in the middle of a mini-trial. Like, heating huge kettles of water on the cookstove and watching the steam spin up into the air. Listening to the tea kettle whistle and drinking mugs of milky hot tea while washing dishes. Laughing at my husband’s speed-showers and smiling when he surprised me by heating enough hot water for me to take a bath.
Acceptance-with-Joy means embracing the bits of glory that show up in the desert. Bravely growing and living and breathing-life– on whatever little tastes of beauty you can find.
And you learn through practice.
Through choosing joy through the seasons without hot water, and choosing joy when there isn’t enough money, and choosing joy when you’re sick, and choosing joy when someone hurts you, and choosing joy when you want to mix up a batch of chocolate chip cookies but someone ate all the chocolate chips when you weren’t looking.
The pattern emerges. Choosing joy through little things, will teach you to choose joy in the big things. The life-changing, I-don’t-know-how-to-survive-this things.
Trust is learned through small steps. One day at a time. And then you grow and understand that your parents knew far more than you did, and God knows far more than we do– and the sooner we accept-with-joy, the easier it will be to survive.
Fighting the place that God has brought you to, will only leave you weak and vulnerable. Accepting-with-Joy? It will strengthen you, burying your roots down deep in the soil– as deep as you need to go to find life. And when storms come? They won’t do anything but ruffle your leaves.
“When you wear the weed of impatience in your heart instead of the flower Acceptance-with-Joy, you will always find your enemies get an advantage over you.”
― Hannah Hurnard, Hinds’ Feet on High Places
Thank you this was very meaningful to me
So good. ❤️ I re-read Hinds Feet past year during a two-month battle with pneumonia and all sorts of extreme kid challenges. I love how you pulled this all together. Thank you!
Well I guess I’ll be the first man to respond here. I rarely comment, but in my struggles to become more aware and accepting of my emotions, and the expression of them directed at me, I woke up the other day saying “acceptance with joy”. So I was pretty juiced to Google that and find your offerings, Natasha. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m glad you found us here! Thanks for taking a minute to comment. I hope the post was helpful!
Oh, Natasha, thank you so very much for this post! It was as if every word was from the Lord to me. During prayer time I was contemplating acceptance with joy in relation to the lifetime of infertility that I am faced with. Sometimes I just need things to be made more explicit, so I searched for acceptance with joy on the internet and came across your blog. I am so glad I did. So much of what people have to say about infertility is just about fighting with all your might to get a child against all odds. Dare I say, sometimes, against the very will of God we say we want to accept? I understand exactly what you mean when about the impossibility of acceptance with happiness, but acceptance with joy is different. Still, how? Then, what you described about accepting the little inconveniences with patience and joy as the little path toward accepting all things with joy rang true in my heart. That I can say yes to, today, with the help of His grace. You are a talented writer; thanks again for sharing your gift.
Cass– I’m so glad that you found me! And I’m so thankful that you were encouraged. <3 <3
Thank you for this word this morning. I suffer from a chronic illness that has seriously curtailed my life & my ability to function. I’ve been sick for 9 years with ups & downs but these days I’m really struggling with frustration and impatience, with grief and sorrow. I just want God to heal me right now! I don’t want to wait for the Lord even if that is what the Bible tells me! I feel as if I can’t keep going like this. This can’t really be my life. Its been so long since I’ve experienced joy. Thank you for reminding me that “Choosing joy through little things, will teach you to choose joy in the big things. The life-changing, I-don’t-know-how-to-survive-this things.”
Its time for me to dig out my gratitude journal again, to stop and notice the beauty in the small thing, even in the pain and sorrow. Its time to wear the flower of Acceptance-with-Joy rather than the weed of impatience on my heart. It won’t be easy but please God help me!
Oh, Miriam. I cannot imagine. I pray that you will find hope and life in the midst of your suffering. <3
Thank you. I love “hinds feet on high places”…have since I was a little girl and my mom read it to me. However, it means so much more so many years later. I am blessed by your revelation of choosing joy in the little things first to learn to choose joy in things like infertility and disease.
Another blogging friend shared a link to your post and I’m so glad she did. My word for the year is Joy. God gave me this word in a year where my husband would spend most of it deployed and I’d prepare to also have my son deploy. He has taught me much about this word. You’ve shared it very well here. Love this ~> “Choosing joy through little things, will teach you to choose joy in the big things. The life-changing, I-don’t-know-how-to-survive-this things.”
Delighted to have found you. Thank you so much for this today.
Blessings,
Beth
So good. I know this battle… and how the things He asks us to surrender grow and grow. I’d been forgetting, lately, but I am remembering, now, the joy of surrender.
Awesome! Such a good lesson and written so well!
Wow !! Good reminder!! Very well said. Thanks,
Delite
I just found your blog not to long ago, and I have loved every post I’ve read. I’m pretty sure each one has made me cry, but that’s okay because tears can be good sometimes. Learning how to choose joy in the middle of my infertility has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I know that this is a necessary lesson. Thank you for being so honest and vulnerable in each of your posts, they have truly touched my heart.
Oh, Sarah. I understand. This has truly been the hardest road I have ever been asked to walk. I am thankful for all He has taught me, and I’m learning to thrive in the midst of it all, but it is still heart-wrenching.
How thankful I am to serve a God who knows and understands pain.
Many blessings– and may you find more of Him as you journey on. <3
Thank you so much!
Joy is so hard when times are tough or feel hopeless, but I love that joy comes from the Lord. However, it’s a choice we must make to take it from Him. Thank you for sharing your heart and this post! I would love to have you guest post for me at waitingforbabybird.com. if you are interested, you can email me at [email protected]