One day earlier this month I went outside to get the newspaper. It was that kind of drizzly day when everything looks just a little bit gray. Imagine my amazement when I saw right in the curve of our sidewalk two bright pink balloons. They were just “parked” there. The rest of the balloons in the group were deflated; but here were these two, still round and full, just waiting, as if to say “Hello! Hello! We are here!

I thought immediately of that wonderful C. S. Lewis book title, Surprised by Joy. That is exactly how I felt: surprised by joy. I rushed back in to get my camera, hoping that the balloons would not blow away while I was gone. Not only did they not blow away; those two bright pink balloons sat right there in the same spot by our sidewalk the entire morning. They were still there when I left for a meeting shortly before noon. Upon my return, they were gone. I hope they landed at someone else’s front door causing that family also to be surprised by joy.

I am now looking for other surprised-by-joy moments…those small things that I might overlook, those mysterious little coincidences, those experiences that would seem extraordinary if I were really awake to them. Saturday night for the first time in a long time we had a big loaf of buttered garlic bread to go with spaghetti at a friend’s house. I was in charge of heating up the bread; and when I pulled it out of the oven and cut the silver foil wrapping, the warm steam and the smell—ah, the smell—of the garlic and the melted butter created a burst of pleasure that continued all the way through the eating of several pieces of the bread!

I have the same kind of “happy surprise” feeling when I come across a quote or some lines in a book that perk my soul up. That’s how I felt when I read for the first time a few days ago the poet Wendell Berry’s words…Be joyful even though you have considered all the facts. Actually, I laughed when I read this. For I’m so likely to temper joy by laying out like railroad ties all the serious, realistic, true facts that show why I shouldn’t or can’t be joyful! I’m trying to learn to welcome those moments of joy—like our dog Dusty rubbing up against my knee or spotting the new blooms on the geranium by the front door, even when the circumstances are trying and the situations I find myself in are tough.

I hope you are blessed with some unexpected moments of joy this month. Click Email Elizabeth and tell me about them when they occur. I really look forward to hearing from you.

Your Responses

In the June Newsletter, I talked about being Surprised by Joy one morning when I found two pink balloons “parked” by our front sidewalk. You responded by letting me know about your own experiences of being surprised by joy. Here are two samples of what readers sent to me:

Thomas Mitchell, scientist and writer on oceanography, responds:

I experienced a moment of joy about a month ago at my house in Lafayette.  It was early on a Saturday morning, and I wandered into the back yard, coffee cup in hand, and ended up under a tall holly tree that was in full bloom.  It was a very still, cool morning.  I heard a strange buzzing sound, and at first could not tell where it came from.  Then I noticed a bee on a holly flower, then hundreds, if not thousands of bees, going about their work pollinating the flowers so we will have holly berries next Christmas.  A moment of joy indeed, which I called my wife out to enjoy with me.

Chris Welsh, President, Mastery of Learning®, responds:

I appreciated your newsletter. My moment of joy came when I was reading Ilya Prigogine’s obituary in the Houston Chronicle. As you know I base a lot of my work on his Theory of Dissipative Structures. I actually got to meet him and work with him briefly.

Anyway, to the point. There was a quote in his obituary from a book by Henri Bergson. It was a quote that inspired his work. It says:

The more deeply we study the nature of time, the better we understand that duration means invention, creation of forms, continuous elaboration of the absolutely new.

Reading that was my moment of joy.

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Dr. Elizabeth Harper Neeld offers wisdom and practical insights to anyone whose life is in a time of transition, change, grief and loss of any kind. As an internationally recognized and accomplished consultant, and author of more than twenty books - including Tough Transitions and Seven Choices: Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World - she is committed to work that helps lift the human spirit.