Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight

Joy is hard because it is countercultural. Even when you see the word tossed about in society, it is a weak, diluted joy. Joy is transcendent. It is from God. It is Him, peeking from behind the curtain or veil to reach out to us.

I was intrigued when I read an interview with the author on Miller's Book Review. I liked her claim that joy is countercultural. I liked her denial of having "toxic positivity." I liked her linking joy to the fruit of knowing God. So I did what I rarely do. I ordered it without waiting for reward points to show up on Amazon.

It turns out that was the right thing to do because by the time the book arrived, I was going through some things that made me really need looking for joy as an experience of God. I already asked God every morning what sort of an adventure he'd be dishing up for me, something planned especially for me, whether good or bad.

These essays about joy fit right into that part of my prayer life. It hooked me because they didn't just include sunsets (though, of course, sunsets are in there). There's also the joy of a nap, of laundry, of Costco (yep, Costco), of a haircut. Most of all, they all connected to God I gulped them down greedily and then got to the last one about the oft-derided book Pollyanna. I got that and read it too. And found joy in it also.

Undaunted Joy is going into my daily rotation of inspirational books. In fact, I'm going to begin it again now.

Slowly, I learned to see joy not as an indulgence but as a necessity. As a way of life. This didn't happen all at once, but through a slow process over time—one that continues even today.