Joy - This Is the Day - by Mike Mason

A few years ago Canadian writer Mike Mason (author of The Mystery of Marriage, The Gospel According to Job, etc.) launched what he called "an experiment in joy": he made up his mind to be joyful in the Lord every day for ninety days. A moody person by nature, for him this was a radical experiment that changed his life. Throughout the ninety days he kept a journal, which eventually became a book on joy entitled Champagne for the Soul. What follows is part of a series of ten excerpts from that book (now in a new edition by Regent College Publishing, available through Amazon.ca).

Three old men, Al, Ed, and Joe, sat on a park bench.

Isn't it amazing, said Al, that at my age I still feel wonderful!

That so? responded Ed. And to what do you attribute your well-being?

I think, reflected Al, it's probably because I have sex twice a week.

How interesting! said Ed. I too am enjoying wonderful health.

And what's your secret? asked Al.

My secret, I'm sure, is that I have sex three times a week.

At this point Al and Ed noticed that Joe was smiling broadly.

What are you so happy about? the other two asked.

With a sigh of deep joy Joe responded:

I have sex once a year. And today's my day.

When I first heard this joke I laughed and laughed, and it kept me chuckling for days. Usually at the heart of a good joke lies a grain of truth. The truth in this joke is that Joe, even though he has sex only once a year, is still far better off than the other two fellows. Why?

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Because today's his day!

Joe is the sort of fellow who lives for the pleasure of each day. Today his pleasure is in lovemaking. Tomorrow it will be in something else, and the next day something else again. Joe has no method or system for what will bring happiness. He knows that well-being doesn't lie in something that happens three times a week, or four times, or every day. No, Joe's only secret is that he's free to enjoy each day for what it is. That's why he's sitting there smiling so contentedly. The other guys have their off days, but Joe is in love with today. He knows that joy inhabits the present moment.

One of my favorite sayings comes from Saint Herman of Alaska: From this day, from this hour, from this minute, let us love God above all. Every moment we can cross over a line into the country of joy. You may not have been happy when you picked up this book today, and you cannot predict that you'll be happy tomorrow or next week. But right now, lifting your eyes to this glorious day God has created, you can rejoice in it.

The present, after all, is the only time over which we have any control. I can't control the past; it's gone. As for the future, I don't know what will happen. Right now, however, I can choose to rejoice and so transform my life. A decision to rejoice in the present changes not only the present, it also changes my view of the past and ignites my future with hope. Thus there is power in the present moment, and only in the present, to transform all of time.

Perhaps it's too much to expect anyone to live an entire life of joy. Yet is it too much to be happy for one moment? The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The mountainous project of life must be broken down into manageable steps. That's why God, before He created anything else, created days: And there was evening, and there was morning the first day (Genesis 1:5). Even the monumental work of creation was handled according to the homespun precept, One day at a time. Don't put off happiness until tomorrow it might not wait for you. The time to enjoy life is now.

September 20/2007