Joy does not take a ride on every wave of emotion…but I am not there yet.  I pay too much attention to how I feel, no matter if it is inadequate or capable; dejected or supported; ignored or heard; self-satisfied or sadly empty. The key, I believe with all my heart, is in my heart.  To know, as Frederick Buechner says:

NOT AT EVERY moment of our lives, Heaven knows, but at certain rare moments of greenness and stillness, we are shepherded by the knowledge that though all is far from right with any world you and I know anything about, all is right deep down. All will be right at last. I suspect that is at least part of what “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness” is all about.  It means righteousness not just in the sense of doing right but in the sense of being right– being right with God, trusting the deep-down tightness of the life God has created for us and in us, and riding that trust…

The Clown in the Belfry

Radical trust.