Mid-January, and we’re busy. We find ourselves without opinions or original thoughts, at least for our public. We’re a little giddy — we’re using the royal “we” and can’t seem to shake it. We play with the look of our blog. We need a change. This is not real change, nothing deep like fulfilling resolutions. It’s a new dress or shirt kind of change. We will seem new. We need that too.

Then we come across a quote from John Koessler, written some years ago about the coming of the Lord, and — quite seriously — it says everything that’s true for us today, everything we would want to say.

Meanwhile joy, like the Day of the Lord, had a habit of showing up unexpectedly, as if it were a thief intent on catching me unaware. It stole upon me at inexplicable and inopportune moments, while driving in the car or making the bed, only to vanish as soon as I became aware of its presence… When I looked for it on my own, particularly in church, it eluded me. I came to understand that this is often the way of joy. A glimpse of heaven refracted through the shadows of earthly experience, joy prefers to inhabit the periphery of our spiritual vision.