Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL

I thought about JOY all day, ever since I saw the prompt for RDP Saturday. I had visions of a glorious stained glass window—and what I imagined was quite beautiful.

My mom and I finished our shopping today so we experienced great joy, but our feet were tired and not much else was accomplished. I didn’t sit down to work on this until an hour before midnight, as with many nights, and let’s just say it’s been a long evening.

My featured image tonight is nothing like what I imagined, but it has grown on me. I think it’s an emotional piece, because I worked very hard at making lines and symmetry—and then I just let loose and started spinning and changing colors (you would really understand that comment if you saw the original).

I imagined myself like a child, you know… like how they are when they get upset at their coloring project and they start making long hard scribbles all over the page. I think I totally get it now. It’s a release of some sort.

Needless to say, I like it. You can find joy in it if you look for it. I think that’s what I like the most about it. It’s just like life. Joy isn’t always sitting atop your nose, staring you in the face and shouting, “Hey, look at me! I am JOY!”

No… I don’t think joy is like that. Joy is quiet, unassuming, and abstract. And it’s not without it’s downsides, just like my mom and I finding joy in our shopping today, but coming home with tired feet.

And with the current state of the world, JOY is not easy to spot, but it’s there…. Just waiting for you to find it.